


Everybody Wants To Rule the World

by A_Starry_Night



Series: Part of Being Human [1]
Category: Broadchurch, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Part 1 of 3, Work In Progress, slowly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-09
Updated: 2017-01-23
Packaged: 2018-05-12 17:21:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 33,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5674306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Starry_Night/pseuds/A_Starry_Night
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I've been steadily posting this story and its updates on my ff.net account but I've decided to post it here to try out something new. I've edited some bits and added a bit more to previous chapters, so you'll actually be getting a bit more with this version here on AO3 than there will be on the former site.</p>
<p>Enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've been steadily posting this story and its updates on my ff.net account but I've decided to post it here to try out something new. I've edited some bits and added a bit more to previous chapters, so you'll actually be getting a bit more with this version here on AO3 than there will be on the former site.
> 
> Enjoy!

“You know this town. You’re used to the ordinary—look for out of the ordinary. Follow your instincts.”

-Broadchurch, episode 2

0000000

Ellie Miller was not in the best of moods.

Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that it was three in the morning, or very near to it, and she wasn’t quite fully awake. Not going to bed until one in the morning had not been a good idea. It did have something to do with the fact that it had been a call-in from headquarters saying that they had discovered something worth investigating. Ever since Danny Latimer’s body had been found on the each every phone call scared her.

Sometimes, she hated the fact that she had agreed to come back to Broadchurch’s police force at all.

Alec was waiting for her near the front doors, nearly blending into the dusky black of night from his dark suit.

“Sir,” she greeted him shortly as she approached. She said it not unkindly.

“Miller.” His greeting was the same as always, just as gruff and brusque as the first day she’d met him over Danny’s body; but like her own, his tone was one of familiarity. He met her at the top step, windswept and unkempt but as alert as he always was. “They need us at the warehouses.”

The warehouses at the water, where the boats were docked. Ellie felt her stomach clench. “What’s happened?”

He shrugged, scowling slightly. “Don’t know. HQ got a call-in emergency thirty minutes ago saying that there was suspicious activity along one of the docks.”

She raised her eyebrows when he paused. “That’s it?” She didn’t suppose so, but she’d been called in for stranger reasons.

He shook his head. “The caller went to check it out—and then he yelled and the line went dead.”

Ellie blinked. “’He’?”

“Definitely know that the caller was a he, but we couldn’t get any identification before the call was cut off.”

Ellie didn’t say anything in reply to that but she didn’t need to to know that the aborted call was not a good sign at all. She supposed that there was a possibility that the anonymous caller had merely slipped on the dock and knocked himself unconscious, but no one was ever that lucky.

She slipped into the passenger seat and looked out at the sky. The stars were hidden. They were calling for rain during the following late morning, early afternoon forecast, which meant a grey dreary day. She sighed. 

Alec glanced over at her. “You alright?”

She glanced over at him, then away again. He asked her that every so often, when it was only the two of them, and she was usually a mix of touched and exasperated by it. She never snapped at him for the question, however, simply because he never showed he genuinely cared for her in any other way.

“Fine.”

She had good days and bad days. On her good days she could almost smile with enthusiasm and feel almost like the old Ellie Miller who could see the good in everything and everyone and always greeted the day with a smile. On her bad days, however, she felt brittle and tender and the old sense of betrayal choked her until she felt like she couldn’t breathe. On those days she could barely manage to drag herself out of bed.

Surprisingly, it was Alec who helped her the most. When the whole town looked at her as the wife of a murderer, sometimes shunning her company like a plague, he was there. Whether it was simply listening to her rant when needed or purposely bickering with her to shift her attention elsewhere, he never looked at her any differently. And that helped.

They were quiet for the most part driving down to the docks, Alec asking only once about Tom and Fred, her sons, but silence very quickly descended once more when she did not reply. Ellie struggled to wake up a little more, focusing on what the phone-call and its implications might mean and wanting no part in discussing her thoughts and fears to her boss.

Then he turned the headlights off right before they turned into the drive leading to the docks, long before he cut the engine. Ellie looked at him in confusion.

“Just a feeling,” he muttered quietly without glancing at her.

It was the best response she could hope to receive. Having seen on a daily basis that he was a man who followed his instincts on a daily basis, she knew he often did things a little unconventionally. She silently followed his lead as they left the car and headed for the docks. The sea was lapping soothingly below their feet, faint beneath the sounds of their footsteps. Their torches splashed the wooden walkway faint white before them. Nothing seemed amiss.

And then halfway to the first warehouse, Ellie’s torchlight fell upon a pool of wet blood. She breathed in sharply through her nose, turning to Alec, but he had already stepped up beside her, his face grim.

“An attack?” Ellie asked him lowly. “Or could the caller have simply hurt himself and managed to walk off?”

He shook his head. “Attacked,” he answered just as quietly. He turned his torch farther up the dock and she saw what he had already noticed—a trail of blood was leading away up to the warehouse, smudged dark against the wood. Like a carcass being dragged.

“Any sign of his phone?” She turned her light around, looking hopefully for the glint of metal.

He joined her in her search for a moment before shaking his head again. “Must’ve dropped off into the water,” he said, looking back at the blood trail. “C'mon, Miller.”

Carefully navigating past the smears, the two of them slowly made their way along, closer and closer to the warehouse that, in Ellie’s mind, was quickly gaining a sinister edge.

The door, when they came to it, had been broken down and nearly splintered from its hinges as if in a fit of rage. Ellie paused for just a moment, taken aback by the surprising brutality of such an action before Alec looked back at her and silently urged her on.

And then the stench hit them.

Ellie nearly gagged as the smell of scorched flesh and spilled blood wafted past the torn-up door, overwhelmingly thick and cloying down the back of her throat. It was a smell she had never had the displeasure of knowing before, a hot wet scent that made her stomach turn.

“Miller, call for back-up,” Alec instructed her hoarsely; in the faint light she saw he had paled considerably as the awful stench reached him too. “Now!”

Privately relieved that she didn’t have to go in there yet, she did as she was told—and turning back to the doorway realized that he had already climbed over the wreckage and was inside. “Sir!” The exclamation was louder than she’d intended and she winced, lowering her voice to continue. “For God’s sake, what are you doing?!”

He ignored her. “Stay there.”

She growled exasperatedly in the back of her throat, cursing his stupidity but she nonetheless did as he’d ordered, shining her torch down at the threshold. Blood wetly shone on the splintered edges, and looking closer she realized that it had to be arterial blood from how dark it was. So if it was an attack then they were probably dealing with someone who knew the major parts of the body. 

She was shining her torch up at the doorway where splinters of torn wood hung dangling a foot above her head when the abrupt realization hit her: she was smelling flesh burning. So why wasn't the building aflame? They should have found some evidence at least of charred wood but there weren't even burn marks to be seen. Beneath the sickening stench of smoke and death she caught the faint whisp of something tart like a freshly-opened lemon.

What in hell would cause a smell like that in this scenario?

Hurried footsteps coming back told her of Alec’s approach just as the sirens of the approaching police cars and ambulance came up to the water’s edge. More concerned with Alec’s return, she shone her torchlight into the warehouse.

“What is it?” she called, trying not to breathe in.

He came into view, white and thin-lipped and looking very close to being sick himself. He staggered over the threshold, allowing Ellie to give him a hand keeping his balance before practically falling against the side of the warehouse. There was something in his dark eyes that she couldn’t place but nonetheless sent a chill shivering down her spine.

“There’s definitely a body down there,” he told her quietly. “I think it’s Steve Connelly.”


	2. Chapter 2

The paramedics had come and loaded the body away; Alec had been right, Ellie saw with an awful flip of her stomach. It was Steve Connelly, but so torn up and blood-drenched that he was nearly unrecognizable. Only his face had been left uncovered when she saw him, but still the scent of burnt flesh rose from beneath the blanket, almost making her gag again, and she couldn’t hide her relief when finally the ambulance was shut and driven away to take the body to the morgue for an autopsy.

Alec walked up to her side, his mouth a thin grim line. After one moment of simply trying to gather himself he had not allowed anything to distract him, instead silently observing the body being loaded up and perusing the area for anything else out of the ordinary. He had been given a thorough questioning by SOCO to make sure his looking around had not contaminated the crime scene but he had very quickly waved them off and made his way down the pier. “They’re heading back to HQ now,” he said quietly. “C’mon.”

Ellie looked back at the smear of blood still drying on the dock and shuddered before turning to head back to the car.

Alec, she realized, was on his phone when she got there. He didn’t notice her. “—need your experience on this one,” he was saying lowly. A pause. “Yes. I think so.” Another pause. He shifted on his feet, suddenly irritated. “No. You can't come your usual way, you’ll scare them all. Besides, you can’t anyway because I fixed it last time I was there. No, and don’t wear that bloody trench coat, either!” With a sigh that was almost a growl he snapped the phone shut, looking at the screen for a moment before turning. If he was surprised by Ellie’s presence he didn’t show it; he merely raised an eyebrow and got into the car. Ellie followed suit.

“Who was that?” she asked against her better judgement.

He didn’t look over. “A—friend.”

Sensing he would explain no further, Ellie let the matter drop but her curiosity was piqued.

Several things about Alec confused her. In the beginning, he had simply seemed to be a socially awkward, bitter-driven man who had no manners and no heart. But the case of Danny Latimer’s murder had dragged on, and the the killer had been found to be none other than Ellie’s own husband Joe; and on the days when she was okay, she noticed a change in her boss. It was a small change, but he had softened somewhat. She didn’t know why.

And then there was the issue of his being invalided out of the police after the close of the case by what the doctors called heart arrhythmia. He should have been forced into early retirement for good. And for a while it had seemed like he was. He packed up and left Broadchurch altogether, without a word or an explanation to anyone. And Ellie would never admit it to him but a part of her had missed being able to simply talk to him when she felt like the rest of the town was judging her (which they were). The other part of her, of course, had expected nothing less than what he had done, leaving the way he did. But just as quickly as she thought she would never see him again, he showed back up in town just as gaunt and tired as before, but somehow he had gotten his position reinstated and he was back on the force within days. It was another mystery she had never tried to solve.

She had always wanted to ask him where he had gone after leaving Broadchurch, but she never entertained the thought that he would actually tell her. She didn’t ask him why he came back, either; she had merely quirked an eyebrow when seeing him and addressed him with her customary ‘sir’.

“Never seen that much blood before in a crime scene,” she muttered quietly, looking at her hands. 

She missed the glance he shot at her—one of concern, perhaps, but it was quickly gone and then he was watching the road again. “One of the worst I’ve seen,” he agreed. His knuckles were white where they were clutching the steering wheel.

“Who d’you suppose could have done something like this?”

He shook his head. “Dunno,” he answered shortly.

They would simply have to wait for the reports from the autopsy to come in before they could begin to speculate, but Ellie couldn’t help but wonder. Was it a gang, an underground cult perhaps? But why murder Connelly? She felt a pang to her stomach again. During the Latimer case he had merely seemed a nuisance, trying to claim that he had ‘psychic abilities’ that allowed him to talk with the dead, even going so far as to meet with Beth Latimer to tell her so. Ellie had had no patience for the man, no matter how much he had pleaded that he was telling the truth, but now… now she couldn’t help but feel sorry. No one deserved such a fate.

Once again she glanced over at her boss, trying not to make it look like she was. He was luckily looking forward, paying little mind to her at all but she quickly looked away from him before he could catch her.

There was a lot that Ellie Miller could speculate on—and at the moment she was wondering who it was Alec Hardy had called asking for ‘expertise’.

0000000

She was able to get a couple more hours of sleep before needing to get her boys up for the day. Not in the bed, of course. It didn’t matter if they had left their house, if she had slowly gotten rid of many of her husband’s belongings—she slept on their worn-in sofa or chair in the living room, wrapped in the blanket that held the least amount of Joe’s scent, hating the gaping hole beside her in the bed where he was supposed to be. It felt awful without him, but she hated the very thought of him, of what he had done. 

She didn’t care that he had been sorry for the crime he had committed. She didn’t care that while in the jail at Broadchurch he had asked for her several times. Nothing justified the killing of an eleven year old boy, nothing made it alright. She hated him for ruining their lives. 

She hated herself for missing him so much. She missed Joe enough it was still a physical ache that sometimes left her breathless.

But she had to do things without him now, had to remind herself daily that it was just her and Tom and Fred, and that was the way things were going to remain. It was unlikely that Joe would receive anything less than life in jail.

Thanking of him was painful. He was a subject never broached by anyone. Not even by Alec. Especially not by Alec.

She dropped Tom off at school, then Fred at her sister’s, and headed off to work, trying to ignore the stares she was getting. She had never been called anything to her face but she could hear whispers that followed her around anywhere she went. 

The office was busy and just as noisy as always, but she immediately headed to her desk without greeting anybody. But that was okay, because very few of them stopped to speak to her anymore. She perused through paperwork she’d just been given for a couple of hours before familiar footsteps caught her attention and she looked up to see Alec walking into his office. 

‘Moving quickly today,’ she thought to herself, and there was an undeniable speed to his walk that was not customary for him. Standing, she made her way over to the threshold of the office, waiting for him to notice her.

He did quickly enough. He looked even more unkempt than usual; his shirt was rumpled slightly, his tie a little sideways, and it looked like he had barely touched his hair. There was something distracted in his expression.

“You all right, sir?” she asked.

He was slipping his coat on, barely looking at her. “First autopsy reports for Steve Connelly are in,” he said. “Gonna walk down and see them.” Now he turned and looked at her. “We have a couple—ah, specialists coming in, Miller,” he continued without pause. “People who have a little more expertise with these sort of crimes.”

She frowned. “But it’s just an ordinary crime scene. Blood, a dead body—why do we need specialists with this?”

He gave her his usual silent Stare. It was a tactic he used a lot, for either making a point, making you think you were dumb, or simply making you feel bad. This was his ‘making you feel dumb’ Stare. He didn’t reply to her questions, merely walked out of the office. Exasperated, she sighed and followed him.

The walk down to the autopsy room was silent as most walks between them usually were until finally Ellie frowned. “Sir, when did you say your friends were coming in?”

He looked over his shoulder at her, looking like he was about to say something—

And then a tall man rounded the corner facing them, heading their direction. Ellie stared, taken aback. He was probably as tall as Alec, although certainly not as thin, with dark hair cut short and wearing a long dark blue WWII-style trench coat. Alec rolled his eyes and growled deep in his throat, as kind a greeting as this man was probably going to get. 

That didn’t stop the man from smiling charmingly. Everything about the man oozed charisma, Ellie thought, staring. Where the hell had he come from?

“DI Hardy,” the man said cheerfully, and again Ellie was taken aback by his clear American accent. Alec was calling in Americans to help with the case?

“Captain,” Alec replied unsmilingly.

The man looked at Ellie, and his smile, if possible, turned even more charming, extending a hand out to her. “Hel-lo—“

“Stop it,” Alec barked in exasperation.

Ellie struggled to hide the sudden blush that wanted to bloom across her face, hoping to God that neither of them noticed how flustered she had suddenly become. “It’s all right, sir,” she muttered. “I don’t mind.”

Alec rolled his eyes before pinching the bridge of his nose. “For God’s sake, Harkness,” he growled, glaring at the stranger, “why do you do that?”

The man ‘Harkness’ smiled brilliantly, looking at the irritable copper. "I can’t help it if women find an interest, Alec,” he retorted with good humor, his tone stressing the copper’s resented first name.

“Too bad you don’t find an interest in women,” Alec snapped. “She’s married, Harkness!” he said in sharp warning as the man made to reply.

Harkness turned back to Ellie. “Too bad for me then, huh? You are?”

She finally managed to stop from blushing and looked him in the eye. “Ellie Miller. Detective Sergeant.”

“Stuck with working with this stubborn git.” Harkness leaned in with another charming smile and a wink. “Tell you something, Ellie Miller,” he stage-whispered. “Alec Hardy isn’t as bad as you think he is.”

“I hope you’re referring to something outside of your sexual fantasies,” Alec muttered.

Ellie nodded slightly in response to Harkness’ words. “I know,” she replied simply.

Suddenly uncomfortable, Alec shifted, calling the man’s attention away from Ellie again. “So?” he asked bluntly. “Have you had a look yet?”

Harkness nodded, suddenly very grim. “Yeah. It’s a good thing you called, Alec.” He looked at Ellie, bowing slightly. “Jack Harkness,” he said. ‘Torchwood is here to help.”


	3. Chapter 3

“Chapter 3”

There was nothing about an institute or team called ‘Torchwood’ on the databases anywhere in the computers. Nothing at all, besides a tiny little mention that linked the word to her late majesty Queen Victoria, but that surely didn’t have anything in common with Captain Jack Harkness. The mention was dated all the way back in the late 1800s, when she had been traveling through Scotland. Ellie clicked out of the page the information was on and sat back in her seat, exasperated.

There was, however, a swift mention of the Captain in an old file hidden away, one Ellie managed to stumble across quite by accident in her search. It was from years back, from when Harold Saxon had been Prime Minister (whatever had happened to him, anyway?), and declared three different people enemies of the state—a young black woman, a brown-haired man Ellie thought looked vaguely familiar, and finally Captain Jack. Declared national terrorists. But other than that single file there was nothing else about terrorism or the Captain or the other two mentioned. He simply dropped off the radar.

He confused her. First he showed up out of nowhere—and if he was American how did he manage to travel to Wessex so quickly? Then there was the fact that he was called a specialist for odd and unusual deaths, but there was something missing from his explanation. ‘Identifying causes of death outside the normal ways,’ was how he had put it, smooth and calm as always, but in Ellie’s line of work no death was normal.

And of course there was his relationship with Alec. The two of them knew each other, of that Ellie was positive, but she didn’t know how long they had or even if they’d worked together before. There was something between them, like old friends even if Alec was still a rude git during all of their encounters. Jack merely laughed his brusque remarks away which Ellie was surprised about since she had never before met someone whose feathers weren’t ruffled by the copper’s lack of manners.

He’d put aside all the charm and turned to a strictly professional attitude when going over the first results of Steve Connelly’s autopsy.

‘It’s unlike anything I’ve seen before. Of course there were massive third degree burns on most of the body, but there was no lighter fluid or gas or any type of flammable material anywhere to be found.’

‘But the body was done burning by the time we found it. How does a fire start and burn out that quickly without something flammable?’

‘That's something we’re going to have to research more.’

'But there was no sign of charred wood, either,' Ellie had put in, the simple fact still bothering her. She turned to look at Alec with a raised brow, wanting him to back her up if the captain objected. 'That night I looked everywhere but I didn't see any scorch marks, the doorway had only been splintered.'

Surprisingly Jack hadn't disputed her; he had merely nodded his thanks for the information and looked at Alec. 'It'll take a bit more time before we can guarantee any definitive answers for you,' he said apologetically. 'But I've sent the autopsy results to Gwen and she's already started perusing our archives for any similar circumstances.'

‘Any idea of who could have done this?’

He had been unable to answer that question too. He had merely shaken his head and told them that they would have to wait for that answer as well. 

Now they waited for the test result's arrival from the captain's co worker, and it had been nearly a day since first meeting the Captain. Ellie had not seen him since that first meeting, but she was still mulling over the new information he had told them. She was unsettled, of that she was certain; how could a body caught on fire only burn for about an hour and then be done? That was physically impossible.

She was quiet when she went home. Tom, never one to miss a change in her attitude, called her out on it immediately. ‘Mum, what’s wrong?”

Her eldest son would make a good detective; the thought made her sick. She shook her head. “It’s nothing, sweetheart. Just some issues at work.”

“The copper again?”

Tom made it clear he nursed a (mostly understandable) grudge against Alec Hardy. After all, during Danny’s case her boss had all but accused Tom of murdering the youngest Latimer. That was still something that Ellie herself was disgruntled about, even if she knew now that Alec had only said that to bait Joe.

She sighed. “We found a body,” she said quietly, and hated the fact that those four little words made Tom blanch, and she could practically see him wondering who of his friends it was they found dead this time. “A man,” she hastily added, wanting to soothe his fears. “You didn’t know him.” No need for him to know the man was connected to the case of Danny’s murder. She didn’t need him to start fearing that he was a target as well.

It was a point she had yet to point out, but one that refused to let her go. Steve Connelly had been nothing special—but he had been tied to the Latimer case, however indirectly. Could it be that the murderer was targeting those linked to that? For that she feared for her boys’ lives more than ever. She was fearing for any of them linked to those few months. 

It was in moments like these that she missed being able to talk to Beth. Having a friend there who was willing to listen and give advice and simply be there was worth more than anything. But she couldn’t do what she wanted. Beth’s last words to her—“How could you not know?”—had effectively thrown away any chance of a future friendship between them.

Beth was right to hate her.

“But you’ll be home a lot less.” 

It was not a complaint or a whine—merely an acknowledgment that things would be changing again. Tom looked disgruntled, clearly thrown off by the fact that his mum would not be there as often as she had been the last few months.

Ellie didn’t particularly care for it either but it was her job. “I’ll be home as often as I can,” she replied quietly, ruffling his hair fondly. 

After Danny’s murder and the hellish weeks following it, nothing could get worse.

0000000

She found Alec poring over papers the following morning—not alone, she soon discovered, as she realized that the Captain was seated in the chair opposite him in the corner, drinking a cuppa and trying to engage the copper in conversation. Alec was obstinately ignoring him, but the thin line of his mouth showed he was still irritated by the company he did not want.

The Captain seemed oblivious to this, laughing as he continued to talk. “And then she told him off, right there, in front of them! Brilliant. Who knew out Nightingale could shout like that?”

Alec finally looked up, catching Jack’s eye, but the irritation had vanished into something softer at the mention of the captain's bird. It was an unfamiliar look that Ellie had never imagined he could make. “Martha has a pair of lungs on her, Jack. She'd need to, working with UNIT the way she has been. She still not carrying a gun?”

“Is that all you care about?” Jack sniffed, but he was joking. He nodded. “Concerned for you, as always. Told me to tell you ‘hello’.”

“Is she coming over?” He couldn't quite hide the hopeful edge to his words as he straightened in his seat.

“No. She has a project she's finishing up with Mickey first. I think she said she's somewhere up in Ireland.” Jack finished off his tea and looked seriously at the copper. “She's right, though- you do look like hell, Alec. You need to take a break.”

Alec groaned, sitting far back in his seat, irritation flashing in his expression once again. “Bloody hell, if it’s not her it’s you!” he complained. “You’re not my bloody mother, Jack!”

That tone would have stopped anyone else in their tracks from answering. Not so with Jack, however. His grin merely widened as he stood and leaned over the desk. “You know you’re cute when you’re angry?”

Alec actually threw a book at him. “Out, Harkness!” 

The shout drew the attention of the few officers who were in the station, caught off-guard by the boss’s flash of temper, but Jack was laughing as he dodged the book and made a hasty exit from the office. Standing near the doorway Ellie had to step aside so he didn’t accidentally hit her, not sure whether she should smile or tell the captain to start fearing for his life. She settled for a small grin and approached the doorway of the office.

Alec looked at her with hot and irritable eyes. “If you say anything, Miller—“ he growled.

“Never,” Ellie said, unable to hide her grin. Bending down she placed the book back on his desk. “Gotta work on your aim, I think.”

The old sense of odd humor served its purpose. His irritation with the captain was forgotten as he raised a sardonic eyebrow. “Why don’t you stand right there while I throw it again?”

She snorted. “Please. If I was standing stock-still two feet away you still wouldn’t hit me.”

She thought that her challenge garnered a small grin from him, but if it did it was quickly gone. He looked back down at his paperwork. Ellie quietly watched him for a long moment, thinking about a similar moment during Danny's case in which she had tried to muster the courage to ask him a question she didn't think he'd answer.

“Sir—can we truly trust Captain Harkness?”

It was a question that had been bothering her but one that seemed to surprise him. He met her gaze with a confused frown.

She took that as a sign to continue. “It’s just—he refuses to tell us anything detailed about what Torchwood is and—well, he was a wanted felon a few years back—“

"During Saxon's time in office," he clarified immediately; she could have sworn there was something dark in his eyes when he said that, an old familiarity as if he knew exactly what she was missing in her explanation. But it was gone within a moment and she wondered if she had simply imagined it. He merely gazed at her for a long moment, clearly wondering what he could say. “Captain Harkness was in a case of mistaken identity,” he finally answered shortly. “He’s trustworthy enough.”

From Alec, those words meant everything.

0000000

It had been close to six months since Ellie had last been in the morgue. The smell of it still sickened her, and the feel of its atmosphere sent a nasty shiver down her spine. She had no desire to see yet another dead body laid out on a cold slab of metal but this what the job required. She was unnaturally quiet as she followed Alec down to the cold rooms.

Steve Connelly’s body was covered up to the chin with a thin white sheet, but in the light he looked even more ghastly. Ellie studiously looked anywhere but him.

The pathologist was waiting for them.

“It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen before,” he told them helplessly, his confusion plainly evident. “Looking on the surface all we saw was burnt flesh—absolutely nothing hinting towards a flammable material on the body at all. Then we dug deeper.” He shook his head, looking at a thin file that he had put together. “All evidence points to a faint but natural flammable chemical.”

Both Alec and Ellie were thrown. “A natural chemical?” Alec repeated.

“Yes. And this is where it goes even odder. The chemical isn’t anything I have ever seen before. It’s natural, but not natural for man.”

Ellie almost wanted to laugh. “So what are you saying?” she said. “That this wasn’t done by a human or an animal?”

Alec shook his head. “We deal with facts and figures,” he agreed. “Not some half-baked horse-shit.”

“It’s not half-baked.”

The captain’s voice from the doorway behind them made them both turn. He was looking unnaturally grim, the usual charming smile nowhere in sight as he approached them. He had a file of papers in his hand which he held up for them to see. "Gwen just sent me this," he said mainly to Alec. "She actually found it in UNIT's files- it seems they've had a recent run-in with this same problem. And this isn't half-baked," he added with an odd little smile. "I would say well-cooked. But that’s beside the point."

“What is the point?” Alec said impatiently.

The Captain shook his head. “Not human,” he said darkly. “It’s a creature called a chimera.”

“A what?”

There was a laugh barely hidden in Ellie’s disdainful remark. She tried to hide her sudden upwelling of scorn and disbelief—god, she sounded like too much like Alec—and was only partly successful. Arms crossed she stared at Jack, willing him to suddenly smile and say it was simply a joke. 

But he didn’t, and she tried to ignore the sudden tightening of her gut in the thick silence that had awkwardly descended upon them. The captain still looked unnaturally grave, deadly serious as he met her gaze.

Helpless, desperate, she turned to the only other form of defense she could think of; surely Alec would take her side? She’d half-expected to hear him chew out the Captain long before she had the chance to—but turning to him her gut twisted even more. Alec wasn’t looking disbelieving, or angry, or scornful. Instead he was looking at Jack quietly, nodding just slightly in agreement, thinking about what had been said.

She turned back to Jack, mouth working several times before she could speak. “A chimera? Like the- the Greek myth creature chimera?”

“Not so much,” Jack replied. “That myth originated from this creature, I think.” He suddenly looked at Alec. “Ever seen one?”

She was confused when Alec shook his head minutely, eyes far away. “Never. Heard about them, though. Thought that they were just a myth.”

Jack raised his eyebrows, urging him on. "Any information on this thing would be exceedingly helpful," he remarked dryly.

“Well, they’re very real. The real chimera doesn’t have the part-lion-part-snake, part-goat look. Not entirely sure what they look like, actually, but definitely not like that. But it is a fire-breather. Which doesn't explain why Miller is right in that Connelly's body is burnt but the surroundings weren't.” There was a bright gleam in Alec's eyes as he thought about it; if Ellie didn't know better she would label it as curious excitement. 

“But it at least explains the burns on Connelly’s body.” The captain looked up the notes that had been sent to him, perusing the information there. "I dunno- Gwen already told me that UNIT left very little detail in their reports about this. They found suspicious activity late one night in one of their buildings and the man who went to take a look was found three hours later burnt and torn apart. It only mentions that the autopsy showed there was the same flammable yet unnatural element on his skin. They tried to look for any other evidence of the creature that had attacked them but they never found any." 

Alec breathed deeply through his nose, looking up at the ceiling. “I take it the report state the flammable material was natural as well?”

“Wait, wait,” Ellie interrupted, utterly confused. “You’re making it sound like this thing is some sort of—of alien.” She pleaded with a god she didn’t believe in that maybe now both men would smile and tell her she was being a fool, but now it was her heart’s turn to jump when neither of their expressions changed. She turned to Alec, feeling oddly betrayed. “Just what kind of experts did you call in, sir?”

Alec was quiet for a long moment, looking at her. She felt like she was being sized up. Then he turned to look at Jack. “You want to explain it this time?”

“No!” she exclaimed, suddenly angry. She advanced on him, jabbing a pointed finger into his chest like a javelin. “I’m not asking bloody Jack Harkness to explain this! I’m asking you—you, Alec Hardy—to tell me why you’re trying to feed me a bullshit story of aliens!”

He didn’t even so much as blink. “It’s not bullshit, Miller.” He glanced at Jack over her shoulder again. “Harkness and his team research and contain extra-terrestrial life that makes its way to Earth.” He was irritated—his strong brogue had roughened. 

She stepped back, disbelieving. “You’ve known about this team for how long?”

He shrugged. “Four, five years? Dunno, exactly.”

“And have you actually seen an alien?” Her tone was decidedly derisive. 

His answering grin was devoid of humor. “Several times.”

She backed away even more. “You’re insane.”

She swore she heard Jack mutter something along the lines of ‘now she’s figured it out’ but was too distracted to care. “I think you need a break from work, sir. Or better yet, a trip to the psychiatrist.” Her voice was cold. “You’re clearly addled.” She turned on her heel and headed for the doorway, trembling, telling them both, “Stay away from me.”

She left. For a long moment neither man said a word.

“Well, that went well,” Jack finally commented sarcastically. He looked at Alec significantly. “I told you she wouldn’t handle hearing that very well.”

“I know her, Jack,” Alec snapped angrily, glaring. He looked at the doorway. “She’ll come ‘round.”

Jack snorted. “If you say so.” He didn’t sound convinced. “So when do you want to check out the docks again? See if we can find our alien?” 

Alec shrugged. “Tonight? Connelly was attacked at night. Maybe it’s nocturnal.”

“See, that’s what’s so difficult about creatures from the dawn of time,” Jack complained. “You don’t know anything about them.”

“Most aliens come from before the human race was even a footnote in history,” Alec retorted disdainfully. “You lot are so unimportant that other aliens barely notice you.”

“You do know you’re insulting yourself now, right?”

“Shut up.”


	4. Chapter 4

Distracted, Ellie watched the minutes tick slowly away on her clock. She was alone in the office, reviewing some papers before heading home, but found her attention sorely lacking now. 11:15. It was fully dark outside, the only light outside the streetlights that bathed the road in a soft orange glow. She looked back down at the papers in her hands, but every word she happened to read was ‘aliens’ repeated over and over again to her.

Groaning, she rubbed her forehead with one hand. She was too distracted by the conversation earlier in the day in the morgue to concentrate on this now. She still held the opinion that her boss was clearly insane, and Captain Jack Harkness was just as bad; but she hadn’t said a word about the conversation to anyone. Who could she tell? Would she even be believed? She hardly believed it herself- she didn't believe it.

She glanced over at the clock again. 11:17. 

Aliens. She shook her head and stood, unable to look at the papers for one more second. Stretching, she wandered over to the window overlooking the entrance of the police station. It had been out this window just a few months ago that she and Alec had watched Mark Latimer leave custody. It seemed so far away, now, those months of Danny's murder case. It seemed a different life, living with a perfect husband and two wonderful boys, and Beth waiting just across the field if the two of them simply needed to talk. But she had trusted that life, and it had all come shattering down.

The movement of shadows by the wall caught her attention, the grey of a trench coat blending into the dark until the shadows parted. The captain walked out into the glow of the streetlight, looking around for a moment before continuing on his way to the parking lot. Ellie's fingers convulsively She frowned. Where was he going?

She growled to herself. Sometimes she was too curious for her own damn good. Tapping her fingers impatiently for a moment, she finally huffed in resigned exasperation and headed out of the station herself, grabbing her coat along the way. 

0000000

Jack looked over from the passenger seat of the car, silently studying his old friend. Alec was keeping all of his attention seemingly on the road, but the captain knew that he was aware of Jack’s scrutiny. 

“It’s funny,” he commented quietly, “to see you driving.”

Alec glanced over. “Why’s that?”

He shrugged. “Just different, is all. Never thought you’d want to get a driver’s license. Car seems pretty tame now.” 

A long moment of silence. “It is.”

His voice was too soft, Jack thought. Approaching dangerous waters. He changed the subject, managing a genuine smile when he found it. “So. Ellie Miller, huh?”

“What about her?”

“Well, we both know you only choose the best. I mean, you could have gone anywhere, met anyone, after what happened between you and R—“

The brakes screeched as the car slammed to a halt. Jack jerked hard against the back of the seat, startled.

Alec’s eyes were dark and hot. “Don’t,” he snarled, “talk. About. Her.”

It had been close to three year and the 'R'-word was still a taboo subject. Jack supposed the 'R'-word would always remain that way, however, and realized that although his old friend seemed to have softened somewhat since the last time he’d seen him, it still stood that Alec was still plenty bitter about his situation.

Before he could speak, Alec was turning back to the road and hitting the gas. “And I didn’t choose her,” he continued shortly, and it took Jack a moment to realize that he was talking about Ellie now. “I’m not that man anymore.”

0000000

The docks were quiet and still when they got there. The area where Connelly’s body was found was still roped off, but Alec and Jack easily slipped past as they made their way to the abandoned building.

“So,” Jack whispered, “if there’s anything else you want to add about what you know about this creature, now would be a good time.”

“They were just a myth,” came the terse reply. “Stories. Creatures like the Racnoss, living in the Dark Times before it’s said that they were wiped out long before the creation of the human race. Some say they were creatures of the previous universe that managed to transition to this one—albeit in a smaller, less destructive sense, I suppose.”

“Killing a person by burning them to death seems plenty destructive,” Jack retorted dryly.

The Stare he got was familiar. “This one can kill one person, yeah,” came the sarcastic retort, “but it was said the ancient chimera could burn a whole planet to cinders with one breath.” He looked at the splintered doorway, shining a torch at the old dried blood. He wrinkled his nose. “If this is a chimera then it’s just a smaller descendant, a lot less strong. I suppose that the ancient Greeks could have discovered one and worshiped it, warping fact with fantasy along the way.”

Jack glanced over at him, climbing over the out-of-bounds tape and into the building. “There’s something else, though,” he said, partly in challenge. “Something bothering you.”

Alec looked over his shoulder, back out at the dock and at the water. “Why go after Connelly?” he said quietly. “What was it that he had that attracted it? His phone? He wasn’t attacked until he used his phone, after all. And if it wasn’t his phone, then could it have been something else he had?” He shook his head. “There’s something I’m overlooking, Jack, something looking me in the face.”

Quite used to the steady stream of listing points, Jack patiently waited for him to finish before smiling charmingly, cocking his head. “Well, only one way to find out, isn’t there?” Smartly he ducked under the yellow caution tape and stepped into the building.

Alec leaned in through the doorway, scowling at his blithe attitude. “Careful!” he hissed in warning. “I’ll watch from out here.”

“Oh yeah, send the American in to do the dirty work.”

“Send in the American who can’t die to do the dirty work.”

“Point.”

Slowly Jack made his way farther into the building, the light from his torch fading with every step. Alec waited for him to leave completely before he abruptly swung towards the dock again, looking out into the darkness. The sea moaned beneath his feet. “You know, you really need to work on your stealth, Miller.”

A board creaked softly, and Miller appeared, looking put-out at being discovered and rather angry. “What are you doing here?” she hissed, advancing on him again. “This is SOCO’s area now, you’re tampering with the scene of the crime! This is unlawful!”

He had no patience for fighting with her tonight. “Miller, to know what this thing is exactly we needed to get close to it. SOCO won’t be able to help with this one.”

“So you think you’re better than SOCO then?” Her eyes glinted in challenge. 

He mentally rolled his eyes. “In this area, yes. Captain Harkness knows what to look for, he’s had training and abilities more advanced than anyone else here on Earth.“ 

"Oh yes," Ellie responded acidly, "I'm sure he'll be like Psychic Steve and sense if there really was an alien in that building."

Stunned silence was her answer; she was taken aback by the way his expression twisted with a flicker of dawning horror. He wasn't quite looking at her now but she recognized the familiar look of thought process on his face as her words touched off a whole new realm of possibility. "Psychic," he whispered. For a long second he stood frozen-- then with a speed that made Ellie jump he was spinning away with an exclamation of irritation and realization. "The answer's been right here in front of us the whole time! Why did the chimera attack Connelly? We thought it was his phone but he was psychic, he was able to sense things outside the realm of the physical. His mind was like a beacon, drawing the chimera to attack him! Anyone with the ability is going to attract its attention!"

And it clicked in that instant—the missing piece of the puzzle. The piece that had been staring him in the face all this time. He felt himself pale and his stomach clenched. Stupid. Stopping mid-rant, he turned away from her and ignoring the sudden painful racing of his heart he vaulted over the tape in the doorway. “Jack!” He didn’t care that his raised voice would attract the creature if it really was here, all he could focus on was the fact that his friend would be the one the creature would surely go after. The building still smelled of death and smoke. He could hear Miller shouting for him but ignored her. “Jack, get out! It senses telepaths!”

Too late. As soon as the words left his mouth an awful scream of agony filled the air—a scream he knew only too well. The air didn’t just smell of old smoke now, and the scent of burnt flesh only strengthened as the seconds ticked on. 

Reaching the bottom of the steps into the basement of the warehouse, he found Jack rolling around on the floor screaming aflame from head to foot. A creature shining a dark gold stood above him, bending down as if to grab him.

0000000

Ellie had thought she had seen it all when Danny Latimer was killed, she really had. She had thought that she could handle any and all things that happened to come her way. Now she realized that arrogance was a dangerous thing, because as she followed her boss down into the basement life decided to horrify her just a little more. She smelled and recognized burnt flesh, the most awful thing she had ever come across, and nearly stumbled into Alec as he abruptly stopped in the bottom doorway. 

The captain was screaming in pain, an inhuman noise she would never forget as long as she lived, engulfed in flames and rolling on the floor as he tried to put them out. Stunned and horrified she made to move around her boss and do something to help him—and Alec caught her arm in with inescapable fingers. “No!” he hissed in her ear. “Don’t.”

It was only then that she realized that there was a fourth figure in the room—a large golden creature about the height of a man. On all fours it bent over Jack as he burned to death, covered with short fine hair with padded back feet, opening its mouth again. Smoke billowed around its head like a wreath.

And then it stopped. It shuddered and sniffed the air, and then to Ellie’s horror turned to look at them.

Alec swung her around and pushed her up the stairs. “Out!” There was more urgency in his voice than she’d ever heard before, and more fear. Without thinking she obeyed, nearly tripping over her feet as she did. Blind panic was overtaking her senses, overlapping the entire world in a blur of color and sound as she struggled to retake the safety of outside. Flames crackled after them, nearly singing them both as they ran up the steps. 

The tape was torn away from the doorway as they sprinted outside along the dock. The sea crashed like thunder beneath their feet, and Ellie felt the spray of water hit her face. There was no time to pause or recover because immediately behind them the heavy sounds of crashing steps rose up from the building. Her arm was numb and realized that Alec had not let her go in all this time. She didn’t know how long he could manage to keep running like this—the old memory of him collapsed on the pavement on Briar Cliff was still a very clear one—but maybe terror did wonders even with a heart condition. And he was just as frightened as she was, she could see that, but there was something else there in his expression she couldn’t place. Excitement?

“What is that?!” She struggled to gain enough breath to yell the question.

“A chimera! Fire-breathing and fast, so move it!”

The splintering of wood was shockingly loud and they turned to find that the creature had torn the doorway open; its front hands-like paws were wickedly clawed. And it was looking right at them with deep pitiless eyes shining all-black as it started to advance. Alec was right—it was fast.

“What the hell were you thinking, going after that?!” 

“You shouldn’t have followed us!” he retorted furiously. 

“Seeing you two act like covert agents made it an easy choice!” She struggled to get away from him. “I just didn’t expect you to have a death wish!”

“It’s not a death wish as long as you don’t die!” Abruptly he reached and grabbed her other arm, pulling her closer. They didn’t slow down their speed, but they could both hear the groaning of the dock behind them. “Hold your breath!”

She almost didn’t realize what he was doing—then hurriedly took a deep breath just as he leaned too far over the dock and pulled them both into the water where they landed with a ferocious splash. Eyes stinging from the salt, Ellie saw a cloud of brilliant yellow fire spread across the dock where just a second before they’d been standing at. The sea was cold. Instinctively she started to swim to the surface but found that even in their fall Alec had not let her go and was instead directing her. Lost and (literally) in over her head she had no choice but to hold her breath and trust him. Her clothes were heavier wet and threatened to drag her down.

When finally she could surface she tried to breathe quietly but was only partly successful, treading water and trying to shake her soaked curls from her face. They were under the dock, near one of the pillar legs near the warehouse. Alec appeared beside her a moment later, spluttering. 

The chimera was some twenty feet away from them, standing in the open and sniffing the air as if smelling for them. She shrank back. “What are we going to do now?” They were caught, she thought to herself. They couldn’t leave the water without the creature killing them.

He still managed to give her a derisive look as if thinking she was being deliberately obtuse. “It’s a fire-breathing creature surrounded by water, Miller.”

Oh. “I really doubt it’s going to willingly jump into the sea, sir,” she replied sarcastically.

“Who said anything about it being willing?” He reached up as quietly as he could and tugged at the board above them. “Too strong,” he said, letting go. The splash of water as he landed was startlingly loud to Ellie, and she half-expected the chimera to turn at that moment and blast them with flame. “But the dock’s old. There’s got to be a weaker point.”

She had no idea what he was attempting, or if he even had a plan; instead she watched as he slowly and quietly tested each board, all the while getting closer and closer to the creature above them. At one point the wood creaked and the chimera spun, still sniffing, and Ellie watched with bated breath as Alec slipped quietly beneath the water again as it leaned over and inspected the sea.

“Found one,” he said quietly when he finally reached her side again. “Loose enough board at the right angle—pull it out and that whole section of dock will fall.”

“Let me guess, it’s right beneath the creature.”

He nodded. 

She shuddered, hating the situation, but realized that they couldn’t stay like this forever. “You’ll need a hand.”

The creature spotted them as they grabbed the board, hissing deep from within its throat as it prepared to kill them. Ellie was frozen, almost willing to laugh at how ridiculous this was—being killed by an alien that she barely acknowledged as real—but at the last moment a large black figure collided with the chimera and locking it in a strong hold dragged it below the waves.

Steam billowed from the rings of disturbed water, hissing like a boiling pan, and suddenly Ellie felt uncomfortably warm, but she barely noticed as she struggled to understand what was going on. Alec grabbed her arm again and led her to the water’s edge and she was so stunned she didn’t shake him off.

Shivering and shaking she looked out at that steaming circle once she had sat in the wet sand of the shore and shook her head. “W-what h-happened?” she stuttered, trying to keep her fingers from trembling.

Sopping wet, the beginnings of a smile on his face, Alec stood. “Jack.”

She frowned, shaking her head. “It couldn’t have been, sir. He’s dead.”

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, however, she shrank back in just one more shock as suddenly the dark figure appeared above the surface of the sea, approaching the water’s edge to join them on the shore.

Blackened burnt skin was mending itself together even as Captain Jack Harkness opened his mouth. “Fire!” he complained. “Why is it always fire?”

0000000

“You’re an alien,” Ellie said accusingly, glaring at the captain. “You must be.”

“’Fraid not, sweetheart,” he replied. “I’m as human as they come.”

“Except for the coming back to life bit,” Alec interjected sarcastically, toweling his hair dry. The three of them stood in Jack’s bedroom at the Trader’s Hotel, trying to dry off and recover from what had just happened. Ellie stared at Jack. There was no hint at all that just thirty minutes ago he had been burnt to death.

“That’s what happens when you mess with aliens,” Jack shrugged. “You face consequences sometimes.”

She stood. “I’m going home,” she said bluntly, heading for the door.

“I’ll walk you. Call if you need me, Jack.” Alec dropped his towel on the chair and glanced back at the captain. Jack raised his eyebrows and he held up a bottle of water, his gaze flickering briefly to Ellie's retreating back. Alec knew exactly what was in that bottle and gave a short shake of his head. 

“See you tomorrow.”

The streets were silent and dark. The two of them walked silently along the pavement with Ellie keeping several careful feet between them. She didn’t know what she was thinking or feeling, except that her whole world had just shifted and she felt like she was on the side of a cliff ready to fall. Aliens existing, a human man with immortality, her boss in the know all along. 

“You work for Torchwood,” she said quietly to him now, keeping her attention carefully on the road. She couldn't hide the accusation in her voice. “All this time—through Danny’s case, through everything… you worked for them.”

“I don’t work for Torchwood,” Alec answered shortly. “I work with them sometimes.”

“Same thing!”

“It’s not.” He stopped where he was, suddenly irritated. “There are instances where I’ve some across an alien attacking humans—so when I do I call them in. And you saw that chimera. You saw what it did to Jack. You can’t deny that they don’t exist.”

Her voice shook. "What happened to it?"

He shrugged. "Water didn't outright kill it, but Jack made sure it drowned. Gwen will be down in a day to come and retrieve it for their records."

The chimera may have just tried to kill her but hearing him speak of it so coldly made her gut twist. "So you're just going to catalog it like it's some kind of meat, then," she said bitterly. "Hide it away from the rest of humanity and pretend that none of this happened. What happens to Connelly's body, then? You can't say that an alien killed him."

"A simple fire," Alec answered shortly. "It was exactly as you supposed, Miller- a cult of some kind, passing through town."

She laughed derisively. "C'mon, Hardy, that's a bullshit cover-up and you know it! You're forgetting SOCO's records and don't forget the pathologist who initially did the autopsy."

One eyebrow sidled upwards. "That pathologist never performed that autopsy, Miller. There are no records of his findings anywhere to be seen. At least not any that he's going to remember."

Her eyes widened when the implications of his words hit home. "You erased his memories?"

"Jack did. It's his specialty."

"But you can't do that! He has rights, a mind that you and your Torchwood friends warped to cover up your actions! What other illegal things do you and Jack do to people, then?"

"Whatever is necessary." His voice was low, gaining an angry edge. He stepped closer to her; not threatening, but still in warning. "You're thinking like a human, Miller, that's all you ever do. But you've seen it for yourself now, you know that another world is out there- countless worlds, countless billions of species and planets and stars! Humanity can't know about that yet, you're not ready for it. The universe isn't ready for you either, so it's our job to keep your world away from the one that's out there!"

"'Your'," Ellie repeated faintly, staring at him.

He stopped short. "What?"

She backed away from him, her knees suddenly weak. "'You're thinking like a human,'" she repeated, and continued to back up. "You keep on referring to humanity as 'you'- not 'us'." She passed a statue by the fence, wanting nothing more than to turn and run from him, from his mad delusional ravings and oh god this couldn't be happening-

“Miller—“

"I'm going home, I'm going home and when i wake up this will have all just been a dream-"

“Miller, stop!”

She had thought that the most frightened she would ever hear or see Alec Hardy had been while facing the chimera. But now the true fear she heard in his hoarse shout stopped her in her tracks, making her turn despite herself. She’d give him a tongue lashing that would make him blush and continue on her way—

But everything she had planned on saying was forgotten when she saw what had caught his attention. 

The statue behind her had moved, stretching a clawed finger her direction.


	5. Chapter 5

The statue had moved. Where even a moment before it had seemed nothing more than an unnoticeable decaying stone angel, it now faced her. Its eyes uncovered, it stared sightlessly ahead with one arm outstretched—reaching for her, Ellie realized with an icy jolt. As if knowing that she was there

“What the hell—?” Ellie swallowed hard, somehow unable to look away. Its eyes refused to let her go. “Alec,” she stammered, struggling to keep her voice even, “what… the statue’s moved.”

“I see that, Miller.” Alec’s voice had lost none of its bite or sarcasm, but the fear was still very much there. Somehow he kept his voice soft, almost soothing; trying to keep her from panicking, but she would have liked it better if he was his usual arsehole self. “Now I want you to listen. Whatever you do, do not look away from it. Don’t even blink. No, don’t look away! You so much as blink and it’ll kill you.”

She swallowed again, starting to back away from it while trying to distract herself from her predicament. “What is it?”

“Weeping angel,” he answered gruffly. “Lonely assassin. Take your pick.”

“Yeah, that makes me feel a lot better.” She actually felt a bit better having a few more feet distancing herself from the creature, wanting nothing more than to glare over at him. In her peripheral vision she thought she noticed him moving slowly behind it. “You’re not normal. There’s no way you’re a simple copper.”

He shrugged. “I never said I was normal.”

She swallowed hard, trying to ignore her burning eyes. The need to blink was becoming increasingly important. “So now what?”

“Just keep backing away.” He was closer now, almost as if he thought he could sneak up on it. But what could he do? Even if he was right and it couldn’t move with her looking at it there was nothing he could do that would stop it. Reaching behind her now she felt for the building she knew she was approaching, almost stumbling over the curb. She blinked, and in the second that she did it moved several feet, reaching both arms for her now, its face twisted in a fanged snarl.

Her hand brushed against the side of the building. Finally. Light from a streetlight fell over her and the statue, casting the moment into an eerie Twilight Zone-esque scene. “What now?” she demanded.

“You’re going to have to trust me.”

His tone was not something she wanted to hear at that moment. “Yeah, that’s worked for me before,” she snapped.

If she could have seen his expression she might have caught his flinch. “I could just leave you here with it,” he retorted.

Her stomach clenched. “You wouldn’t.” But the bad thing was she wasn’t entirely sure he wouldn’t.

It didn’t help when he didn’t reply to her challenge. “There’s a window five feet to your left,” he informed her shortly.

How was a window going to help? Nonetheless she started to make her slow way across, feeling her way down the wall until she felt the cool touch of glass. She swallowed. “What now?”

“Blink.”

“You just told me not to!”

“That was then, this is now, and now I’m telling you to blink!” He wasn’t completely shouting, but his anger was prevalent. Cowed for the moment, she slid a couple more inches across the window, trying to buy herself time. Her eyes were starting to water, but she wasn’t sure if that wasn’t only because she wasn’t blinking.

She was stuck. Steeling herself, she did what she had been told and for one heart-stopping moment her world went black, leaving the unknown on the other side.

When she opened them she found the angel only inches from her face, claws nearly bumping her nose. If possible it looked even angrier, as if it knew it was being thwarted. Ellie shifted a little bit more, heart still pounding away in her throat, until she was touching brick again.

“You can look away now.” Alec’s voice spoke to her left where he had stopped and instinctively despite her fear she looked over. He was still staring at the angel himself, a dark scowl written all over his face. Something like hatred was smoldering in his eyes.

“Won’t it just come after me when we look away?” Ellie demanded shakily, backing away as fast as she could. Her knees felt weak and her stomach was turning over, and she could feel herself sliding into shock. Too much information, too many sensations in too short a space of time. Her abilities as a copper did nothing to help her with this. 

He shook his head. “It’s looking at its reflection. It can’t move now.”

It was only then that she realized the idea behind his suggestion of the window. Glass reflected, of course. Just enough like a mirror. Vaguely she wondered what it would seem like for pedestrians who walked down this street in the morning seeing the statue but very quickly decided she didn’t care. “Are there more?”

He didn’t look over. “Always.”

She shook her head but found she had no reply, no retort to counter his words. She just wanted to be home with her boys. She regretted ever following Alec and the captain to the docks.

She regretted ever meeting Alec Hardy, if this was the life he was leading her in to.

Hoping he would still be too distracted to notice her leaving, she spun on her heel to leave his company (and preferably never step into it again)—

And walked straight into the waiting touch of a second angel that had snuck up on them during they’re talking. She barely managed to cry out in shock before suddenly with an awful jerk she was lifted off her feet and thrown into a flurry of sound and color. She thought she heard her name shouted just before that, but she wasn’t sure, and then her world was turned upside down and inside out.

Moments later she was suddenly thrown hard onto the ground and falling onto her hands and knees, trying to catch her bearings. Disoriented she looked around, trying to figure out what had happened. There was nothing but tall waving grass for miles round. Mountains loomed off miles off shrouded in mist, and the air was laden with the smell with rain—and absent of all the city smell she had always known. She seemed to be in the middle of nowhere.

Just as she was wondering if she should have a complete and utter mental breakdown right then and there, the air seemed to tingle and tighten, almost like a door swinging open and shut, and suddenly a second person appeared several feet away, thrown hard onto the ground just as she had been—and with a jolt she realized it was Alec.

Struggling to his feet he looked just as shaken and disoriented as Ellie felt, looking around wildly before catching sight of her. “Ellie!” She wasn’t sure but she thought his voice wavered as he spoke.

She didn’t even attempt to stand, knowing her legs wouldn’t support her. Instead she waited for him to come to her, sitting admist the sea of waving grass, swallowing down her wish to simply start crying. When he finally did reach her side he gripped her arms and helped her stand with a strength she hadn't realized he still had; his hands were shaking. “You alright?”

She thought about giving him a tongue lashing about the stupidity of his question, but her mouth wasn’t cooperating. She nodded instead. “What… happened?” she pronounced carefully.

“Touch of an angel.” He wasn’t looking at her now but at their surroundings, clearly trying to find out where they had ended up. 

“But you said it would kill me!”

“It did.” His voice was dark and laden with a growl as he explained the situation they had been landed in. He released her arms after she managed to steady herself. “It’s sent us back into the past.”

She stared at him. “The past.”

He nodded sharply. The wind ruffled his hair and long tie. It was cold, she realized. Cold enough to snow. “They steal the days you were supposed to have.”

“Will they follow us?” That was what she was afraid of most at the moment—seeing them pop up out of nowhere would probably give her a heart attack at this point.

He shook his head. "They don't have any need to." He turned away and started walking. "C'mon. We can't stay out here."

0000000

Ellie didn’t think they would ever find a town from where they had ended up, having only seen open field, but Alec refused to let her stop. The wind was picking up, blowing her hair into her eyes, and she had wrapped her coat around herself for what meager warmth it provided. She focused only on making sure she stayed right behind Alec as he made his way through the grass. For a moment she wondered if his body would be able to handle the stress of walking so far, especially if they didn’t find a town or even a house soon but then decided she would worry about it when it came to that.

Maybe they were simply lucky, but in a short amount of time they managed to find a dirt road pitted and sprinkled with stone. Ellie was comforted a little in that, at least seeing some form of civilization but didn’t say anything about it. Neither of them had spoken aloud for quite some time.

Maybe two hours later, they saw lights in the distance. It was growing dark now, and Ellie was sure her hands were frozen, as were her toes. A mix of snow and rain was just starting to fall, but she barely realized it. A dreamy-like haze had fallen over her, and she couldn’t help her stumbling slightly as they continued on. At one point she tripped and Alec had to reach out and steady her, and she didn’t realize that he didn’t let her go. Everything was becoming a blur again, an overload of bright colors and strange muted sounds. She thought she heard a door opening and closing, and Alec’s voice calling out for something, saying something about a ‘Mr. and Mrs.’ and felt herself dragged up some stairs, and suddenly she sat on something soft. The feel of something warm being shoved into her hands made her jolt back to reality a little, and she realized that she was seated in a small room on a bed. Alec was standing in front of her. Rain had dampened his clothes and sprinkled his hair, and she realized she was wearing his coat.

He seemed to realize that she was a little bit more aware now, because some of the tension in his expression fell away. “Are you with me now, Miller?”

Shakily she nodded, without thinking lifting the mug up and taking a drink. Hot spiced cider—she coughed, eyes watering a little. “Did you put whiskey in this?”

He didn’t respond but he really didn’t have to. She swallowed another mouthful, trying not to grimace at the taste, but the drink and its warmth at least brought a little bit more of her clarity back. Clutching the cup close, she looked around. “Where are we?”

He shook his head. “Dunno. Some town on the up by the moors in Britain.” He brandished a paper at her, urging her to take it. “Look at the date.”

Nov. 7th, 1909. She looked up at him. “We’ve gone back over a century.”

He nodded.

She shook her head, letting the newspaper flutter to the floor. The cup was slowly cooling in her hands and she suddenly felt doused in cold water as she realized… She looked up at him, tears welling. “Tom—Fred—my boys,” she choked out; her vision was narrowing, “my boys are alone. They’ll be taken into care, I’ll never see them again—“

“Ellie.” Warm, firm hands cupped her face. Alec was kneeling in front of her. “Ellie, look at me.” His voice was unnaturally low, soothing, and instinctively she did as he said. “That’s it. That’s it, look right at me. Breathe.” He managed a genuine, if strained, grin of reassurance for her sake. “Tom and Fred will be fine. Jack won’t let anything happen to them. You’ll see them both again, alive and well. I promise.”

She was calming, able to breathe again, and she reached up and grabbed hold of his wrist, squeezing it gently in silent thanks. She swallowed down her panic and her tears and instead focused on his words. God, she was like a dog, wanting nothing more than to lean into his touch. “But the captain won’t think about them— oh.” She didn’t know if she should glare at him or not as his words fully registered. “Did you tell him to?”

He sat back, letting her go when he saw that she had regained control of herself. Finally he nodded. ”Yeah,” he admitted softly. “There was never any guarantee that the cases at Broadchurch were going to be alien-free—“ at that his mouth jerked, twisting, “well, I say alien-free—and when I heard I had you as my DS I contacted Jack and told him that if anything were to happen to you that was alien-related he was to take the boys and take them somewhere safe.”

Ellie stared at him. “You did?” She was thrown at his confession, but also somehow strangely touched. “Thank you.” Almost belatedly she realized something else—specifically about him. “You followed me.”

“Sorry?”

She shook her head. “You let the angel touch you.” Unspoken she let the silence say the rest of her words; by allowing that he had effectively killed himself to get to her, if what he said about the angels was true. 

If that didn’t show he cared for her, she didn’t know what would.

He looked suddenly uncomfortable and stood with a low groan, taking the empty cup from her hands to set it on a low writing desk near the window. “You made me care,” he replied quietly.

She managed a small smile, thrown and a little bit frightened by his confession. “You’re welcome?” she offered weakly, unable to think of anything else to say. 

He snorted, unimpressed with her attempt at humor. “Go to bed, Miller.” He took both her coat and his own and laid them over the back of the chair, suddenly back to the aloof DI she was familiar with. “Clearly you need to sleep if you’ve run out of witty remarks.”

Somehow she found herself doing just as he had instructed, barely managing to kick off her shoes before she slid under the covers of the bed. Normally sleeping in her clothes and bra was uncomfortable but at that point she was so tired she didn’t care. Just before her head hit the pillow, however, she looked up. “What about you?”

Alec had stationed himself at the desk, looking outside through the wide curtained window. The chair creaked as he twisted to look at her. “I’m fine here.” He turned back to the window, watching the falling rain. Gazing at the wide expanse of endless black sky. “Goodnight, Miller.”

She laid back down, and was out before her head hit the pillow.


	6. Chapter 6

Ellie woke to an empty room the next morning. Pale winter sunlight was lazily drifting through the partially-closed drapes where it fell across the foot of the bed. She sat up. The chair was back over at its place by the desk, but she saw that both of their jackets were still there. Of course they would be, Ellie thought irritably to herself; if last night had proven anything, it was that Alec would not leave her behind. The ironic thought almost made her grin but her feeling of unease was still roiling in her stomach. There were still too many pieces missing from the picture Alec and the captain had been painting for her.

That thought made her stop short, remembering the confusing confession he had brought up only the night before: ‘You made me care.’ But she had done nothing that she could recall, nothing at all that would possibly earn that… Unless it was pity on his part; pity for what had happened to her and her family.

On some level she refused to accept that explanation. Refused to believe that he was only acting out of pity, or out of an obligation. He seemed to genuinely care but was unable to articulate it.

Whatever the reasons, one thing still stood: she and Alec were going to be stuck together for a while as they figured out a way to get back home. They were just going to have to make the best of it.

Slipping out of the covers she made her way over to the window. In the daylight the small town they had stumbled across looked surreal, and she wondered for a moment if maybe this was all a dream. Maybe Danny Latimer had never been murdered and she would wake up and Joe would still be her loving husband and everything would be alright.

Very quickly she shook herself. It would not do to have thoughts like that. Whatever the circumstances, this was her life at the moment. Wishing did not help and it did nothing to help her out of this mess. 

It helped, though, to know that it seemed like Alec had some kind of plan to get them back home. 

Speak of the devil, she thought to herself, because at that moment the door of the room swung open and Alec came in with two bundles in his hands. He didn’t seem surprised to find her awake and instead set his load on the chair at the desk.

“Morning, Miller.”

Taken aback by his uncustomary greeting, she merely sat looking at him dumbly for a long moment; by the time she prepared to reply he was already moving on and turning to look at her with a raised brow. “You snore, did you know that, Miller?”

She stiffened, indignant. “I do not!” she retorted. “God, for a second I thought you were an imposter, saying good morning to me like that, but now at least I know you’re still just as rude as ever.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” he replied with irritatingly blithely, and she was tempted to throw a shoe at him. Before she could he had picked up the bundle and placed it on the bed beside her. “Got something for you, by the way.”

She was surprised by how heavy it felt. Frowning she got to her feet and opened it. Her jaw dropped. “Sir, you cannot expect me to where that! Where did you even get it?”

It was an old, fawn-colored dress the likes of which she had only ever seen in museums, with a tight bodice and petticoats and long lace-trimmed sleeves. A soft tasseled cream-colored shawl accompanied it.

He didn’t answer question, choosing to instead pay attention to her remark. “Why not? It’s the style, Miller. We have to fit in until we can find a way home.”

His logic was too sound to ignore but she still gave him her dirtiest look. “You have a plan, then?” She sincerely hoped he did.

“Maybe,” he answered cryptically. He sat at the desk. “Go get changed.”

A shoe wasn’t hard enough to hit him with. Maybe there would be an anvil somewhere nearby. Her lip curled with anger and disgust, Ellie picked up her clothes (probably stolen from someone) and went into the side bathroom to change. It was hard. Dresses in modern times were a hassle to struggle into but this was nightmarish. After a lot of twisting and struggling she was able to slide into it but realized that she would need help to tie up the bodice and so reluctantly called in one of the maids to help her. The dress was every bit as uncomfortable as she’d feared and she felt like a clown as she stepped out into the main room.

Alec was still seated at the desk but bent over a piece of paper hurriedly scratching out a letter. He didn’t notice her entrance until she was nearly looking over his shoulder. When he did he jumped in his seat, glaring up at her to say something snide—and abruptly his expression changed quite completely. The irritation melted away into surprise and if she didn’t know better than she could have sworn that he looked her up and down appreciatively. Then the expression was gone and he was gazing at her coolly. “Very authentic.”

“I hate you.” Ellie shelved her pride and settled on looking at different matters. She glanced over the half-finished letter, frowning. “Who are you writing to, your great-grandparents?”

He ignored the joke. “Jack.”

“The captain?” How was he going to help? She shook her head. “But he’s still in our time. How does that help us?”

He looked at her for a long moment in bemusement, as if she should know. “Because he’ll still get the letter in 2014.”

“But we’ll be dead! I don’t know about you but I don’t think I can live for a century.”

Now he was looking a tad frustrated, like he was wondering why she wasn’t following. “We won’t have to wait for a century, Miller,” he said impatiently, waving a dismissive hand. “We’ll barely have to wait a week.”

She pinched the bridge of her nose, wanting to swear. “My head hurts,” she muttered.

Abruptly something clicked in his expression. “Oh,” he said quietly. “I forgot you all have trouble understanding time travel.” He set the pen back on the table, moving in his seat so that he could face her fully. “Look, it’s really simple. It’s like- it’s like Back To the Future II.”

She stared at him. “Did you just make a pop culture reference?”

“Shut up. Remember how Doc Brown was sent back to the Old West when lightning struck the Delorean?”

“Yes,” Ellie said slowly. It had been several years since she had watched any of those films. “Marty McFly was stuck in the 50s, right? And- oh.” She blinked, startled by the simplicity of the explanation. “Oh. Marty was given a letter written by Doc in the 1800s.”

“Precisely.” He seemed relieved that she had finally caught on. “And Marty went back in time only after a few months that Doc had written him the letter.”

“But that’s just a film!” Ellie protested. “And even if the captain gets your letter he still won’t be able to get here.” She hesitated when he remained silent. “Can he? Please don’t tell me he can. Humans can’t travel through time!”

Alec raised a sardonic eyebrow. She blushed as her last words came back to bite her. “I mean that humans don’t have the technology to time travel.”

“Don’t you?” he countered. “Come off it, Miller, all of those science fiction shows and films and none of you have a clue! Just like humans, ignoring the blatant obvious! Star Wars, Star Trek, Twilight Zone—Rod Serling, now that was a man who understood time travel. All of those stories had to come from somewhere.” He shrugged and continued before she could interrupt. “He’ll come. Trust me.”

She sighed. “Doesn’t look like I have much choice, do I?”

But her rhetorical question made him stand. “That’s not good enough, Ellie.” She flinched from his use of her name. His expression was entirely serious, something in his dark eyes making them depthless. “Right now you’re in this tiny hotel room. But once we go out there it’s going to be hard. Maybe even dangerous. I need to know that you’ll trust me in whatever situation we land ourselves in.”

She swallowed, unable to speak for a long moment. Slowly, however, she met his gaze. “I trust you,” she whispered, and was surprised to find she meant it.

And something tense in his expression fell away, as if someone’s trust was all he’d ever wanted. “Good.” Abruptly he grabbed the letter from the desk and put it safely in an inside pocket of his jacket. “’Cos we’re leaving the safe little hotel room now.” 

She gaped at him, feeling off-balance. “What, now?”

“Of course now,” he snapped, already reaching for the door handle. “When else did you think we were going to do it, in the dead of night?”

She was tempted to say that she hadn’t expected to be going out so soon—and also the fact that he seemed to want only her dressed in the era’s clothes—but cut herself off realizing that she was stuck doing whatever he wanted because she had no idea how to navigate in the society or how to get back home. It made her angry but she bit her tongue and passed him by through the now-open door. She heard the door close softly behind her, and then suddenly she felt his arm link through hers.

“What are you-?”

“Hush. Go with it.” 

Struggling to keep from tripping in her unfamiliar shoes she followed him most reluctantly down the steps of the hotel they’d found last night and into the large, spacious lobby. There was a white-haired man standing behind the receptionist counter who looked up with a smile when seeing them. “Good morning, Mr. Livenston,” he said cheerfully. “I see the missus is better, then.”

“Very much so,” Alec replied, and Ellie almost let her mouth drop open in astonishment. Missus? But even more astonishing than the fact that she was apparently supposed to be Hardy’s wife was that when he’d spoken to the man Alec’s Scottish accent had abruptly vanished without a trace into a distinctly London one. “Thank you for your help and your generosity last night.”

“No trouble, my young man,” the stranger said, smiling at Ellie. “I’m very glad to see you better, ma’am,” he told her. “Your husband was quite worried for you. Imagine a woman walking all those miles with in snow and rain!”

She smiled what she hoped was her most open, charming smile. “I can’t thank you enough, sir,” she said. Luckily she didn’t have to say much more because Alec quickly steered them outside. So early in the morning there were very few people out and about and as soon as she thought it safe Ellie tore her arm away and smacked him hard on the shoulder. “The missus?” Her voice was deadly calm.

“It worked, didn’t it?” He wasn’t cowed by her tone. His Scottish accent was back full force. “By being married we could easily share a room without everyone wondering why.”

She growled, put off again by his logic. “I really hate you,” she told him.

“Very original material, I’ve never heard that one before.” He turned and walked away. “C’mon. Post office’s this way.”

That anvil, she thought angrily to herself, struggling to keep up with him in her dress, was sounding better and better all the time.

He had referred to humanity as 'you' again, she realized belatedly. Not 'us' or 'we'. She felt her stomach tighten just a bit more and she knew she couldn't ignore the rather obvious clues that were in front of her for much longer.


	7. Chapter 7

The post office trip was uneventful; Ellie waited outside as Alec went in to talk with the postmaster. When he came back out, however, he looked troubled enough that Ellie knew something wasn’t settling quite right with him. She felt concerned despite herself and didn’t protest when he took her arm again.

“What’s wrong?”

He shook his head. “Jack’s already here in 1908,” he explained softly. “Not the Jack we know, but I was thinking… and it makes sense. I think we’ll go to Cardiff and find him. What better way to get him the letter than to hand it to himself?”

Ellie stared at him. “Cardiff?”

“He has headquarters there. Will do for—oh, another hundred fifty years from now.” He motioned her forward. “C’mon.” He led them down the street, ignoring her confused questions, past the hotel and to Ellie’s quickly growing confusion and irritation to a small store—a thrift shop, or the equivalence of one for the 20th century. He hushed her when she attempted to ask him what he was doing and merely stepped inside, nodding respectfully to the clerk who was sitting at the counter.

It was junk. All of it, and Ellie looked around aghast at the mess: piles of useless tools and gadgets, secondhand clothes and hats and shoes sitting or hanging half-hazardly on the walls. Her instincts as a mother wanted her to take a shovel to it all and throw it all out. What in the world could help them here?

But Alec, however, simply walked comfortably through the junk, perfectly at home like he did this every day. There was a light, too, in his eyes that she had never seen before and she finally realized what it was. “Are you excited about all of this?” she hissed, stopping him walking by a hand on his elbow. “Being stuck in this year, without help?”

“Never thought I’d time-travel again,” he confessed. 

She stared at him. “Again?” She had not expected that. “You’ve time traveled before?”

He quieted for a long moment; she wondered if she hadn’t meant to tell her that. “Once,” he said quietly. “Years ago now.” He frowned suddenly, thinking about what he’d just said. “Or years from now, anyway.” He pulled away from her slackened hold and continued on his way, leaving Ellie to her newly rediscovered surprise. Her old boss knowing about aliens was one thing—and it was odd he knew so much about them, wasn’t it—but confessing that he had travelled in time before was even more shocking. She couldn’t deny, however, that he certainly seemed to be in his element. He perused the piles of junk and clothes with an uncharacteristic enthusiasm, long fingers lifting something before just as quickly putting it aside, handing Ellie the occasional odd thing that to her seemed just as useless as the rest of the cast-offs. The intensity she had caught glimpses of during Danny’s case was plainly evident on his face as he searched and searched, for what only he knew; but finally he decided he had enough and went up to the counter. To her further surprise he did not pay in money’ instead he pulled out a small scrap of paper that had a child’s writing on it. The storeowner smiled and nodded, glancing at Ellie a moment before pocketing the paper. As Alec led their way out she glanced back to find the man practically inhaling the paper as he lifted it to his face, clearly delighted. 

“What was that?” she demanded, struggling to hold onto all of the things he had handed her. “Were you bartering?”

“That was his monetary system, Miller. Plain money has no meaning for him.”

“But—how--?”

“How does he make a living, then?” Alec supplied the question dryly. “You seem to think that every intelligent species on the planet needs money to survive.”

It took her a moment to register what he meant. “Don’t tell me that man was an alien. Please.”

“All right, then, I won’t.” Alec didn’t slow down his pace. “C’mon, Miller, why are you still surprised by this? Humans aren’t the only ones living on this planet, after all. You’ve been living with aliens since the universe began.”

“Forgive me my hesitancy, sir,” Ellie snapped, “but every alien I’ve come across so far has tried to kill me.”

“Well, he’s harmless. Apparently he crash-landed in this region years ago and can’t call his people for help. When he started he was attempting to barter enough that he could fix his ship but fell in love with Earth while he was doing so. He decided to remain here. Now he just barters for fun and for his own comfort.”

Ellie looked down at her arms full of junk. “But what’s comforting about all of this stuff?”

He shrugged. “He understands intent, Miller. His species is empathetic, he senses the worth of something you hold dear. He’s cut off from his own people but humans give off enough emotion he can still thrive. He can sense what’s important to you.”

She was tempted to ask what it was he had bartered with which had made the man so delighted but she knew he would never answer. They headed back to the hotel room where Alec laid everything out on the bed and desk. Ellie sat as well as she could on the chair and wondered what he was going to do. 

“When are we leaving for Cardiff?” 

He glanced over at her. “Tomorrow. We’ll have to go by train, probably, and it’ll take us a few days to get there.”

“I haven’t been to Cardiff in a long time,” Ellie admitted quietly. Joe’s parents lived (would live?) in the city but they hadn’t gone to visit them in years and Ellie had not heard from them when Joe was arrested. 

“It’s going to be different,” he warned her. 

“And probably dangerous,” she retorted. “Yes, I know, you told me earlier.”

“And I’ll keep on repeating it until you actually believe me,” he said smoothly, turning back to the objects on the bed. 

“I said I trusted you,” she said, standing. “Wasn’t that enough?”

He didn’t look at her. His sudden stillness after his intensity earlier was jarring. “It rarely is,” he finally muttered. But then he seemed to shake himself and bent down, reaching for one of the pieces of junk. “This is going to take a while, Miller. Go get yourself something to eat.”

She frowned but when it was clear he wasn’t going to pay attention to her she sighed and gave up, tired by all of the things she was learning and just wanting some normality for once. So she left him in the room and went down to the main lobby to order a meal. Luckily she had some money and was able to scrounge up enough for a decent lunch. When asked where “her husband” was she merely said he would be along shortly and ate in silence. 

She’d pulled Alec’s writing pad from his coat pocket when she had been by herself for a moment; she used it now away from prying eyes to list everything about her boss that seemed odd. It was, when she finished, more extensive than she would have first suspected. His odd choice of words, his surprising knowledge of this other world… it went on.

She knew there was something about Alec Hardy that was bothering her, something that wasn’t quite meshing with what she knew about him. She was determined to find out, though. She was a detective, after all. She would be able to.

0000000

When she got back, half of the objects had disappeared from their spots. Alec was seated hunched over the desk, fingers splayed and twisting wires together as he put pieces together like a jigsaw puzzle. He had somehow, somewhere, found an ordinary screwdriver and was working the pieces of junk together. The object had no shape yet, as far as she could see, and he didn’t so much as look up when she opened the door, working on twining two pieces of fine copper together.

She had gone out and explored the town a bit and had guessed correctly that it was small. It was very much like Broadchurch itself that way, a community of tight-knit neighbors and businesses. It consisted of only a few hundred men, women, and children, two churches, a few family-run stores, and this hotel. She had looked over her shoulder too often for her liking, however, automatically searching for some more of those weeping angels, or even that store keeper. By the time she was done with her exploration the sun was starting to set, and she was cold. The hotel owner was as kind as always, asking her how she was and she had responded with another smile and an assurance she was wonderful.

“Snow’s supposed to come tomorrow,” she said now, sitting on a free spot on the bed. 

He barely shifted. “Good to know.” His tone was entirely disinterested. 

She rolled her eyes. “You know, it wouldn’t hurt you to not be a knob sometimes.”

He smirked then, suddenly, startling her. “It’s inherent,” he retorted without looking up. “Can’t help it.”

“I’m sure,” Ellie said sourly. “Just like you can’t seem to wear anything but a suit.”

Now he did smile. “Exactly.”

“I was being sarcastic!”

“Well, I wasn’t.” He rolled the object over and worked on closing a small hole that had been left open. He worked in silence for a long time and Ellie simply watched him, feeling trapped and unsure again. How on earth were they going to get back home again? Would she ever be able to see her boys again?

She went to bed early that night, unable to simply sit and do nothing anymore. It was beautiful being able to slip out of that horrid dress and into normal clothes again. She fell asleep with Alec still at the desk tinkering away.

She woke suddenly later from a nightmare, nothing of which she could recall even though there was a pit of dread in her stomach and her heart was racing. A faint light was shining: a candle, lit on the desk. Alec was still working. She could see, however, that he was tired even though he would deny it. She had seen too much of what he looked like exhausted from Danny’s case. She looked blearily at him through a stray lock of hair. “You know you don’t have to spend every night in that rickety old chair.” 

If he surprised to find her awake he didn’t show it; he turned to look at her in confusion. In silence his gaze swept the edge of the bed, of Ellie laying on one side. He shook his head. “Fine here.”

Ellie rolled her eyes. “You’re the most stubborn git I’ve ever met,” she informed him irritably, sitting up a little. “I’m not suggesting anything, if that’s what you’re worried about—but it’s not fair that I get the bed all to myself.”

For some reason, he didn’t fight her. After a long silent moment he merely nodded and got to his feet. With a soft sigh he slipped his shoes off and slid under the covers, glancing only once back at the device sitting on the desk. “Should’ve put that away,” he murmured quietly to himself. 

It wasn’t awkward like she’d feared it to be sharing a bed with him. He kept a respectable distance between them, but still it felt nice to have someone beside her again, a solid presence there. His breathing was slow, steady, and she slipped back into sleep very quickly listening to it.

0000000

Ellie woke up first that morning, which surprised her. For a moment she simply laid there, comfortable and content; waking on a lazy Saturday morning had been her favorite moment throughout the week. And she hadn’t gotten many lazy Saturday mornings in a long while. Finally, though, she knew she couldn’t stay like this forever and she shook herself awake and sat up, stretching out stiff muscles.

Alec stirred slightly beside her, still asleep. For a moment Ellie merely studied him—she had never seen him so still or peaceful before. Awake there was always something tense and weary about his demeanor. Now, however, wrapped in the coverlets he looked a lot younger and a lot less haggard.

She slipped out of the bed, her stomach growling its need, and went to the restroom. By the time she got back, he was stirring. It amused her to see he stretched while still lying down in the bed rather than sitting up—his feet hung off the edge of the bed when he was his full length. He shifted so that he was facing her but did not sit up.

Ellie raised an eyebrow. “We have a train to catch.”

“Lazy,” he muttered sleepily, still only half awake.

She was struck by an idea, then; would his tongue be looser now that he was only partially awake? Maybe she could get some answers now. “What happened to your accent earlier? You sounded—Londoner.”

“’M not Scottish.” In the startled silence that descended then he seemed to realize what he had let slip. She had never seen someone get up as quickly as he did then, standing on one side of the bed as he looked at her from across the other. He looked very awake now and very angry with himself.

She got her mouth to work first. “You—but why—where are you from, then?”

He swallowed hard. She thought his hands were trembling but couldn’t be sure. His guard was slamming closed. “I’m not from anywhere.” His answer was careful; he was eyeing her suspiciously like he was afraid she would reach out and hurt him. “I—travel a lot. Or I did, before…”

She felt herself stiffen, crossing her arms. She could out-stubborn him. “Before what?” But he was silent, and finally she felt something snap. “I’m getting pretty damn sick of this,” she said furiously, taking a step forward. “You’re hiding something, something important, and you refuse to say anything about it! From day one you’ve been all secrets and half-truths and flat-out lies! You want me to trust you but you don’t give me any reason to!” Her fury was rising fast, all of the old betrayals of Danny’s case falling out of control. “Everything you are is a lie!”

He flinched back as if struck. “No. No, it’s not. Ellie, I’m still me, my job, it’s all true.”

She heard the use of her name, recognized it for the plea it was, but didn’t care. “How can I know that?” Ellie demanded. “How can I trust anything that comes out of your mouth? You’ve probably created a whole history for yourself with your little Torchwood friends, leading the whole world on—“

“Of course I had to make up a background!” Finally his control had slipped; the normally unshakable Alec Hardy was very much shaken now, mostly from anger but there was a vulnerability there she was taken aback to see. “I was left here, exiled, I had nothing! Jack helped me back up on my feet, created an alias—everything!”

She froze, one word catching her attention above the others. “Exiled?”

He froze.

She sensed she had struck the root to all of her questions, to all of the answers she needed. “What did you do to make someone exile you in Britain?”

He looked very much like he wanted to jump out of the window to keep from answering; she wondered if he would have the nerve to do it. But he seemed to realize that he wouldn’t be able to escape from her questions. He sat unsteadily down on the chair. “I wasn’t exiled to Britain,” he said hoarsely. “I was exiled to Earth.”

Of all the possible answers, she had never expected that—even though she was beginning to think she should have. Aliens. “So I’m guessing Torchwood took you in?” she snapped, her fury abating only a little; it made her deliberately mean with her next words, repeating what he had told her days ago. “’Torchwood contains extra-terrestrial life that makes its way to Earth’, after all.”

It was a low blow but he didn’t rise to the bait. “I’m human, Ellie. Mostly.”

“So, what,” Ellie began haltingly, trying to wrap her head around what he was telling her, “one of your parents was an alien?” She meant it as a poor excuse of a joke, but his mouth twisted bitterly at her question and that was her answer before he spoke.

“You could say that.” 

He haltingly began to tell her of a Christmas invasion years ago, of an alien race called the Sycorax that hypnotized one-third of the human population and threatened to kill them; then he spoke of another alien, a travelling loner called the Doctor who saved humanity in a sword fight against the Sycorax leader at the cost of his right hand. Ellie recalled, with a sudden shock, that such a Christmas had happened, although she would have recalled nothing of it if he hadn’t brought it up first. But he was still talking, so she kept quiet.

He mentioned in passing the “Doctor’s” adventures, then went on to explain his meeting with Jack Harkness, who had found the hand the Doctor had lost. He went into a little bit more detail with later adventures with a Donna Noble, of an incident when the woman had touched the case which held the Doctor’s old hand.

And then suddenly he stopped, hoarse from talking so much.

Ellie’s eyebrows had steadily climbed higher and higher as he talked, and now she lifted them the rest of the way. “And?” She almost didn’t want to know the answer now.

He rubbed his face, looking away. He had never looked so tired. “I grew out of that hand. An Instantaneous Biological Metacrisis shared between the Doctor and Donna. A genetic copy of the Doctor but with just enough Donna to make me my own person.” He spread his arms helplessly, standing. “Mostly human, see?” He turned to the desk and picked up the device he had somehow managed to finish while she had been asleep last night and headed for the door. “C’mon. We’ve got to get to Cardiff and find Jack so we can get you home.”

He walked out of the room to only God knew where, leaving Ellie in silence to absorb all of what he had just told her. It didn’t strike her until much much later that he had only mentioned her getting home.

He hadn’t included himself.


	8. Chapter 8

The journey to Cardiff consisted of two different trains, an hour long lay away, and took the two full days that Alec had previously guessed it would. During that time the two of them spent most of their time to themselves, speaking only when necessary; Ellie was still processing everything that Alec had told her, and there were several times when she would turn to him as if to speak but very quickly lose her nerve and turn away again. She thought, perhaps, that she caught him looking at her resignedly at one point but she was still too caught up in her thoughts to really register it.

She wondered how he had been able to fool so many people for this long. Maybe Jack was his base, the one who helped him fit into the society. 

Alec, for his part, had responded surprisingly to telling her his past. He should have been as standoffish and tense as always but Ellie noticed there was a definite ease now to his posture, as if a huge weight had finally slipped from his shoulders. It took her until they were in Cardiff to wonder just how long he had had to keep his identity secret.

“When did all of this happen, sir?” 

He was helping her off the train, already half-obscured by the smoke from the engines. It was the first full question that she had aimed at him for nearly their entire journey and he looked at her for a moment, startled. She waved a hand vaguely in his direction. “When did you- erm…” She wasn’t sure how to put her question into words but luckily he knew what she was asking.

“About five years ago, now.” He led them down the station walkway, and she didn’t immediately notice that he was holding her hand in his own while he did so. He glanced back at her.

His explanations were starting to really register now, and she was wanting to address them. She always had been too curious for her own good, and she fell back automatically on her old failsafe when feeling stressed or awkward—humor. 

“So how old does that make you, then?”

They were finally leaving the station, and the throng of bustling people was thinning as they walked the streets. He led them silently until they had reached a quiet alley and he turned to her, nervously rubbing the back of his neck. “Erm—physically? About five. But mentally? Nine hundred and ten.”

Ellie stared at him. “Nine hundred and--? What? Was this Doctor bloke immortal or something?”

“Just because you can live for several centuries doesn’t mean you can live forever, Miller.” There, that was the familiar Hardy tone she was knew. “That’s actually relatively young for his kind.”

“Young?” Ellie shook her head. “Clearly we have differing opinions on ‘young’. But then you’re practically a kid yourself, Hardy, being five—“

“Only physically!”

“—no wonder you act like a kid sometimes—“

A faint blush was spreading over his face. He turned and stalked off, groaning to himself. “Why did I tell you this?”

It felt wonderful to have even a bit of humor; she followed him with a widening smile. “Because I would have bugged you otherwise.”

“Bloody leech,” he muttered. “That’s what you are, Miller.”

“So what does that make you, then?”

He rolled his eyes. “Thought we’d already established that? Hybrid, remember?”

“Always knew you weren’t human,” she muttered sarcastically.

They were halfway down the road now, supposedly heading towards the place Alec guessed Jack Harkness would be. He turned to look at her, a snide reply forming—

And he froze, eyes flying wide as he looked over Ellie’s shoulder. He seemed gobsmacked, and feeling utterly confused Ellie turned to look in the same direction. There were only a few people around on the street now, all going their own way—except one. A young blonde woman—a girl, really—with delicate features and slim was looking at Alec with a similar expression of surprise. Ellie spared another glance at her old boss; he was staring at the girl like she was a ghost. 

“Jenny?”

The blonde smiled a wide, excited smile and rushed forward. “Dad!” she yelled gleefully. Ellie’s mouth fell open. 

But Alec grabbed the girl’s arms before she could throw them around his neck, alarmed. “No- no, Jenny! Jenny, I’m not him! I’m not the Doctor.”

She froze, her smile turning bemused. “But—you look just like him!” she exclaimed, stepping back. “And you know me, you know my name!”

He shook his head. “I’m not him.” He was looking her up and down, gripping her by the forearms. Ellie thought his hands were shaking. “How are you here, Jenny? On Messaline—you were shot! You were dead!”

Jenny shrugged, bouncing up and down on tiptoe. “Dunno!” Did she ever stop smiling? “I just woke up lying in the Hall. I’d hoped to find Dad but he’d already left with Donna, so I stole a shuttle and left. I’ve been looking for him ever since.” It was her turn to change the subject, her turn to look him up and down. “But you look just like Dad! Except for your clothes—and your hair—and why are you growing a beard? Do you travel, too? Why do you look like Dad—?”

“Jenny,” Alec interrupted, far more patiently than Ellie had ever heard from him. He took hold of her hand and placed it on his own chest, directly above his heart. Jenny’s eyes widened and she gasped, surprise flitting across her expression as she looked back up at him. “I’m human, Jenny. There was an accident, a while ago now—I’m a duplicate of the Doctor, with a little bit of Donna mixed in.”

Jenny thought about that for a long moment, processing the information—and then her faded smile brightened again. “So you’re a generated anomaly, too!”

He laughed at that. “Suppose I am, yeah.”

“Don’t suppose you could be called ‘Jenny’, too, then?”

Ellie had to hide her snort with a fake cough at the question. Alec merely shook his head. “Afraid I already have a name.” With a suddenly mischievous smile he reached out a hand. “Hello, Jenny. I’m your brother Alec.”

“Brother,” she repeated excitedly. “I have a brother!” She ignored his extended hand and instead threw her arms around him, nearly knocking him over. He drew her close, lifting her up off the ground and laughing with her. Ellie watched them with a wide smile of her own; who could witness this without one? Their combined laughter and glee was refreshing and lifted her spirits.

Alec finally let Jenny goand set her down, their equally wide smiles undimmed. “I always wanted a brother,” Jenny said happily. “But if you’re younger than I am, why do you look older?”

He shrugged. “Part Donna. I’m aging like a normal human.”

“Is that because you only have one heart?”

“Aye.”

She giggled. “Why do you sound so different? Dad’s accent didn’t sound like that.”

“Do tell, sir,” Ellie interjected dryly. She was very curious what he would tell this girl.

He glanced at her, then back at Jenny. “Spent most of my time in Scotland, and I liked it so much I kept it. The Doctor used it once, too, while he was in Scotland. Met a werewolf there.”

Pure childish wonder lit Jenny’s face. “Really?”

“A werewolf?” Ellie repeated, taken aback.

Her question finally caught Jenny’s attention. Ellie had never seen someone so utterly trusting and happy; and that was including how Ellie herself had been like before. “Oh, do you travel with a companion, too, Alec? I’m Jenny, wonderful to meet you!”

For a moment Alec and Ellie looked over Jenny’s head at each other, united for the first time in a long time over their hesitation. Then Ellie smiled her own wide smile and shook the girl’s proffered hand. “I’m Ellie.”

“We don’t travel like the Doctor does, Jenny,” Alec said quietly. “We’re just- friends.”

The hesitation he spoke the final word with hurt more than Ellie would have originally thought’ but then she remembered that neither of them had ever professed to being anything other than coworkers. He continued his explanation abruptly, looking directly at her. “And it was definitely a werewolf. It tried to turn Queen Victoria and begin ‘the age of the Wolf’.”

“What?”

He didn’t pay any mind to Ellie’s question. “C’mon, Jenny. You’ll come with us.”

“Are we going to run a lot, then? Like Dad does?”

Alec shook his head. “’Fraid not. Not unless we have to.”

0000000

Alec reached the entrance of the pub first, turning to look at Ellie and Jenny. They had reached the middle of Cardiff, near a place he called a ‘rift’ and they had looked for Jack for the past two hours. They hadn’t found him but an old man had told them where he could usually be found. “Remember, he doesn’t know us yet,” he warned them both. “It’s absolutely essential that he doesn’t either, so if he strikes up a conversation do not tell him anything that isn’t strictly need-to-know.”

“We don’t even know what we’re not supposed to say,” Ellie muttered, darkly sarcastic and loud enough for him to hear.

He didn’t rise to her bait, much to her disappointment, merely glancing at her warningly before entering the crowded, smoky pub. Ellie instinctively drew closer to Jenny protectively, disliking the loud drunken men sitting in their stools or uncomfortable chairs. A couple of them were already eyeing the two women, Jenny moreso. Jenny wasn’t watching them, however; her attention was solely on Alec.

He was walking quite disinterestedly among the crowd, ignoring the noise and the eyes of the bar maids standing in their outfits, scanning the building for the face he was looking for. Ellie found him first. She brushed up to Alec, catching his attention.

“Over there. By the far table.”

For someone who would be well over a century older the next time Ellie would see (meet?) him, this captain Jack Harkness seemed remarkably unchanged; a bit fresher-faced, perhaps, the lines around his eyes not as prevalent, but he was most certainly the same man. He sat with bowed head nursing a cold drink. The WWII trenchcoat, she noticed, was missing. It seemed strange to find him without it.

Alec sidled up to him. “Hello, Jack.”

The captain looked up at him, surprised and cautious. “Do I know you?”

“Not yet, but you will.” He sat across from the captain. Ellie and Jenny waited a few feet away. “I’m from your future, Jack. I need your help with something.”

The familiar Jack Harkness smile was starting to grow. “My future, eh? Personal future, maybe?”

“Don’t start,” Alec told him warningly. 

Jack straightened in his seat, taken aback by such a familiar retort from a complete stranger. “Okay,” he said slowly, carefully. “I’m listening.”

“I know all about your journeys with the Doctor and- Rose, Jack.” He almost stumbled on the banned ‘R’ word but managed to say it without too much pause. Jack’s mouth opened, his hand automatically reaching for the pistol Alec knew he carried. “”I’m not here to hurt you. I’m not a spy or a Time Agent.”

“So what are you then?” There was a dangerous edge to the captain’s voice.

“A friend.” It was the most truthful, genuine answer he could come up with. “Believe me, Jack, we’re friends in your future, you’ve been there when I’ve needed you—“ ‘Both as the Doctor and not,’ he thought to himself, “but I can’t tell you anything more. The timelines wouldn’t stand it.”

“You talk like the Doctor,” Jack observed, a mite angrily; he was still abandoned by the time traveling alien, Alec knew, and resentful because of it. He could sympathize completely. 

“I can assure you I’m not him,” he said dryly. He wondered if that was a lie. 

“Alright,” Jack said carefully. “So what do you need? You said you’re from my future.”

“A friend and I were sent back to this time by a Weeping Angel. We need to make sure you can come get us.” He withdrew the letter from his pocket, handing it over to the ex-Time Agent. “Keep this somewhere safe. You can’t open it until 8:32 in the evening of the eighteenth of May, 2014, exactly.”

Jack eyed it carefully as he grabbed it. ‘Alright. Don’t suppose you could give me some hints on how the future goes?”

“Personal timelines are out of bounds, Jack,” Alec said with a smirk, pushing his chair back to stand. “Although there is one thing. In a number of years you’ll come across the Doctor again. You can’t mention this meeting to him. Until May 2014 forget this ever happened.”

Jack was clearly intrigued by the information but luckily had enough experience already from the Doctor to know when he should and should not ask questions. “Anything else?”

Alec shook his head, standing. “That’s it. Anything else and it’ll turn risky.”

“I like risky,” Jack said with another winning smile.

“And I don’t like men,” Alec replied smoothly, unimpressed, “so you might as well stop flirting.”

“Ooh, sassy. Sure you won’t reconsider?” It was a tease, such a Jack thing to say Alec couldn’t help his grin.

“Completely sure. Forever.”

“Damn.” Jack looked genuinely disappointed. He always did, much to Alec’s everlasting amusement. 

He left without saying goodbye and winded his way through the crowd again. Jenny and Ellie followed him outside. 

“So?” Ellie asked when they were out in the street again. “How did it go?”

“Perfectly. C’mon, we need to get to the Rift.” But as soon as he started to walk he stopped again and turned to Jenny. “How did you get here?”

“I—followed you,” she said blankly, confused. “Remember? You told us to.”

“No, not to the pub. You were on Messaline in the future, Jenny. So how did you manage to find Earth in its past?”

She shook her head. “I dunno. I was flying that shuttle and I suddenly saw this strange- funnel or something in front of me. I got caught in it and I found myself here. I actually haven’t been here more than a couple of days here myself, but the shuttle is completely damaged so I can’t fly it.”

He was looking at her thoughtfully. “A wormhole,” he said quietly.

“A what?” Ellie asked.

“A wormhole. It’s like a spatial disturbance, a portal that when gone through will land you in another part of space.” He shook his head. “But I’ve never heard of one causing a shift in time.”

“You are a lot like Dad,” Jenny said. “Always thinking.”

Jenny didn’t notice it, but Ellie did—for just a moment, a dark, bitter look slid across his face at the mention of the mysterious ‘Doctor’. But then very quickly it disappeared and he was looking just as fondly at the blonde as always. “We’ll have to find him for you.”

She frowned. “You don’t see him?”

He was silent for a long moment. “Not for five years,” he finally answered quietly, and continued before she could respond with another question, "It's a long story, Jenny. Too long for right now." There was something in his expression now, something that at first Ellie thought had remained from the mention of the mysterious 'Doctor'; but now that she was really looking she saw his attention was focused rather behind the blonde's shoulder. "And right now we're being watched, so we're going to have to keep moving."

Ellie's stomach tightened in dread at his words and as subtlely as possible she turned to look over her own shoulder and saw the slight movement of someone (or something) in the alley behind them. It was quickly gone, which at least assured her that it wasn't one of those Angels but she turned back to Alec with wide eyes. "This is the dangerous part you were telling me about, yeah?" 

He nodded. "Yeah." He grabbed Jenny's hand and tilted his head, urging her on wordlessly. "We're going to have to make sure we watch our backs."

"I can do that," Jenny assured him seriously.

"I know you can." Alec glanced back at Ellie. "Just ignore everyone else around you, Miller. Keep walking."

"What do you think drew them here?" she asked quietly, hurrying up to his side. 

"Could be anything. Jenny, where did you leave your shuttle?" He clearly was debating their options, the different actions they could take to shake off their stalker. 

"It can't fly," the blonde said, her expression bemused. "I've already told you that. I tried to fix it but it's irreparable."

"It's not the fact that it can't be fixed," he explained softly. "It's that it's here in the first place. Any movement whatsoever in this time and place calls the attention of every alien life form for miles around. That shuttle landing here on Earth was a beacon for every alien wanting off the planet- and the best option they'd have is finding the pilot that flew it here."

"So they're after me?" Jenny was pale but she didn't seem overly frightened or unnerved by the fact that there could be aliens after her, which only served to heighten Ellie's curiosity about her and the adventures she had had while on Messaline. In fact, she seemed almost eager to meet them. 

"They probably don't know who it was piloting the shuttle. They'll most likely try to grab all of us."

"That's supposed to make us feel better?" Ellie demanded sarcastically. 

"Just preparing you, Miller." He said it bluntly, looking back down at her. There it was, that light in his eyes that she had seen while in the small town hours away from here; the same light that Jenny's eyes shone with, the love of adventure. The thirst, she would come to realize later, to see the stars. To explore. He really was enjoying this. They were farther along the street now, trying to make as much distance as possible without looking obvious about it, and Ellie glanced over her shoulder once more-

And suddenly a bolt of light whizzed past her, a high sizzling scream that made her ears ring, and screams from the pedestrians along the street on both sides rose in a symphony. Its light stained her retinas from the single instant she saw it and she couldn't help her startled gasp- both from that and from the hand on her arm pushing her sideways. They had reached an alleyway and Alec was leading them into its temporary safety as more bolts of light streaked into the stone walls.

"I told you it was going to be dangerous." His tone was entirely too pleased.

"Can we run now?" Jenny's hair flipped back and forth as she looked across at where the shots were coming from. The alley they found themselves in was bright and incredibly longer than Ellie would have suspected but there was little time to wonder when the screaming of the shots was coming closer.

"I think so, yeah." Ellie felt Alec's long fingers grip her own, urging her along. "Come on, Miller."

They made it seven feet, or just about anyway. There was a terrible grinding noise next to them and suddenly the wall opposite them exploded outwards with the force of a small bomb. Stone and mortar sprayed everywhere, showering them in dust and pebbles. Dimly Ellie heard Jenny shriek in surprise as they were all blown off their feet. Landing painfully on her back Ellie blinked up at the sky high above her, dazed; there was a dull throbbing along her temple and reaching up she found that her hand came back warm and sticky with bright red blood. There was a loud growling far off to her right and she heard Jenny crying out- whether in pain or just exclaiming something she didn't know- and then Alec's voice responded in the same garbled way Jenny's had. A shadow fell over her and screwing her eyes up she was able to make out that it was Alec, crouching down low to check her condition. He looked up when Jenny cried out again and climbed back to his feet, but not before he slipped something into her coat pocket. She thought he said 'You'll be alright' to her but she couldn't make sense of his words and then he was gone, off to help Jenny.

Neither of them came back for her. When she woke from her loss of consciousness the alleyway was empty.

They'd been caught by whatever it was that had been trailing them. She was alone.


	9. Chapter 9

The creatures had taken Alec and Jenny, and Ellie was left alone in this world that she did not belong in.

Snow had begun to fall again, cold and biting where the flakes kissed her face. There were pedestrians walking to and fro along the alley where the wall sat crumbling in; awake now, dizzy and trembling and sick to her stomach, she was able to see the large gaping hole that seemed shaped like a hungry maw. She wondered if the creature she hadn’t seen had taken its captives through there when it left.

Unless, of course, her mind treacherously whispered, Alec and Jenny had managed to escape the creature and had purposely left her behind.

She already knew that that was truly unlikely. Alec had already promised to make sure she made it home and he hadn’t said that lightly. Somehow, too, she knew that he would not leave her willingly—he had allowed the Angels to touch him when all this began, and he had stayed in that hotel room even when he knew what he could do to get himself home. No, she told herself, if he hadn’t come back for her it had not been his choice.

So here she was seated braced against the opposite wall and watching in open bemusement as person after person wandered past her, gaping at the mess of the alley, without ever noticing she was there. Part of her was angry that she seemed so utterly invisible but immediately afterwards she was glad that she wasn’t, in fact, noticed—it would be hell to try and explain the situation she had somehow managed to land herself in.

‘Yes, I’ve come from the year 2014 due to an alien sending me back in time and my friends have been kidnapped by another alien, and I need help finding them.’

Yeah, right. They’d only here the ‘need help’ bit and lock her up in an insane asylum.

Should she wait for Jack? It seemed like the best course of action—he should have already looked at the letter, after all, he would coming soon. Hopefully. But she doubted the luck she could have; he would have to find her in this entire past in this large city.

She placed her fingers in between her knees and pressed them together until pain spiked along her hands. Blood caked her left temple from where a chunk of rock had clipped her and there was a dizziness pounding and straining behind her eyes that warned her of a concussion.

A man almost stepping on her jerked her out of her thoughts and distracted her from the freak out that she was seriously considering having; she opened her mouth ready to lash out at him, consequences be damned—

And she abruptly froze in surprise as she looked at him. It was not that he had noticed her, because he was ignoring her just as all the others had; no, this man was wearing modern clothes. A dark red, almost maroon, velvet jacket and crisp pants and shiny polished shoes, and he was holding up a remote-looking device. 

With difficulty Ellie clambered to her feet, her heart leaping into her throat. She groaned slightly under breath as the dizziness behind her eyes strengthened, and her skin burned where the cut was. It was hard to walk in a straight line. Blood pounded in her ears and nearly deafened her. “Oi,” she tried to exclaim, but to her it seemed merely a whisper. He didn’t turn around and went on his way past the corner and down the street heading towards the same pub she and Alec and Jenny had only just met Jack in. She moaned in frustration and bumped into the wall as she tripped after him but she was determined to catch his attention. 

“Hey!” She tried again, desperation giving her more strength to shout now. This time the shout made her mysterious man pause in his steps and she was able to hurry up behind him, opening her mouth to speak.

He turned abruptly on his heel, his device held up like a weapon, and she gasped slightly and stepped back.

“You know, I’ve been told it’s rude to stalk someone,” the man said in a rough Scottish accent, and of course he was Scottish, why wouldn’t he be Scottish?

Tall and thin, he was handsome in a way but the first thing Ellie was reminded of was a hawk, what with the man’s fierce eyes and scowling brows. He was looking at Ellie the same way she was him, warily and with a bit of curiosity, but his gaze swiftly turned stupefied as he looked her up and down.

“And I’ve been told it’s rude to almost step on someone and not apologize,” she retorted, not realizing what a sight she made standing with blood drying down her face and dressed in her wrinkled clothing thoroughly mussed by travel, glaring with bright feverish eyes and a thin, furious mouth.

He blinked in uncomprehending confusion for a moment before he realized her words were aimed at him. “Sorry,” he said blankly in that rough accent, and then more pressing thoughts distracted him. “I was looking for a- disturbance, something I thought was here, but it seems that- that I was mistaken—“ And without even a hesitation in his step the strange man turned on his heel and walked away, heading back up the alley where he had first come.

Ellie gaped after him for a moment then abruptly followed after, all of her frustration and stress coming to a head and she suddenly found her temper again. “Hey, you can’t just scare me like that and then walk away like nothing happened! What d’you mean, ‘a disturbance’?” 

He didn’t even turn around. “It was absolutely nothing of importance—everyone is a disturbance, that’s why I travel alone.”

“But you are looking for something, otherwise you wouldn’t have that remote with you.”

“It’s not a remote, it’s a time-spatial disturbance graph,” the man replied irritably, as if he thought she was slow, “and I thought that I had caught a bit of something a moment ago but it turns out that I’ve lost it.” Then suddenly he stopped mid-step and spun again so abruptly with a gesturing hand he nearly poked Ellie in the eye. “No, no, no, shut up!” he exclaimed with that deep scowl, fingers gesturing for silence. He lifted the remote and scowled at the screen. “Well, that’s impossible,” he said to himself then looked up with those unsettling eyes of his. ‘What are you doing wearing a perception filter?”

Her head throbbed; taken aback she could only stare at him, unable to comprehend what he was asking. “What? I- I’m not- what are you--?” 

He moved forward and grabbed hold of her jacket. She slapped at his hands. “What are you doing?! Get off me, you knob—“

His fingers reached into the upper pocket hidden above her breast and he pulled out a long, thin object—the very thing Alec had been hastily putting together while they had been staying in that hotel. She froze, looking at its dull shine from only an inch away from her nose and felt her head throb even more. It was becoming hard to focus. 

“This,” the man said, waving it back and forth slightly. “This is what I’ve been looking for. It’s what the Tardis picked up. But you’re human. Why do you have this?”

Why did she have it? She didn’t know exactly and she opened her mouth to tell him so—and then she remembered suddenly that before he had left to try and help Jenny (before he had disappeared), Alec had placed something in her pocket. 

He had placed it there to protect her. To make sure that the creature wouldn’t take her, too. 

She wanted to throw up but the dizziness was becoming too distracting. Her eyes glazed over and for a moment she gaped up at him unable to speak; then, as her world spun and darkened, she was able to gasp out, “Alec protected me”, before her knees buckled and she fell to the ground in a senseless heap.

0000000

When Jenny woke it was to her face pressed against cold concrete and her nose full of the ripe smell of stale water and dank stone. Her throat hurt and her body ached and for a moment she was disoriented enough that she felt panic begin to claw its way up her spine before she remembered what had happened. That strange, shadowed figure hulking around that had torn apart that building wall. It had attempted to grab hold of her but she had managed to kick it away with the instincts of a soldier she had never successfully shaken. Enraged it had shot her with something long and sharp, like a quill, and she had fallen with fire in her veins. She had seen Ellie fall several feet away from where she had, already knocked unconscious from the stone that had flown everywhere, and before she’d lost all consciousness she had glimpsed Alec coming to help her.

Groaning softly she found purchase with her hands and pushed herself up into a sitting position. Her hair fell into her face, having come undone from its ponytail and she irritably swept it out of her eyes.

Alec was lying beside her, still unconscious from the creature’s attack. For a moment she sat and contemplated him; a brother. She had a brother. She had only met him a couple of hours ago but she couldn’t be happier unless she met up with her dad again.

He certainly looked like Dad did; there was more red in his hair and there were more lines around his eyes but they looked exactly the same. She wondered again why he wasn’t travelling with their father but decided that it was a question for another day. 

“Alec,” she whispered, reaching over and shaking him. “Alec, wake up.”

He jumped more than she thought he would have, and she grew concerned when his face suddenly contorted in a grimace. A pained gasp escaped him before he could stop it and unconsciously his hand flew up to his chest—right above his heart, Jenny realized, and she reached out and placed her hand there as well and felt her concern turn to fright when she realized she could feel his heartbeat stuttering. 

No two hearts. He had told her he only had the one since he was human but she didn’t think a human heart was supposed to beat like that. 

“Alec! Alec, don’t- just look at me, okay? Open your eyes and look at me.” Her training wouldn’t allow her to panic now that she was awake and aware and she hunched over him, agonizing over the fact that he was clearly in pain and she could do nothing to help him. His breath was shaky and shallow like he couldn’t breathe properly but he just managed to do what she had pleaded and she felt a bit better knowing that he was coherent enough to listen. Finally the fit seemed to pass; the pain twisting his expression started to ease and he went limp with relief, breathing shallowly between his teeth. Sweat stood out on his skin and her fingers were nearly numb from where they had grasped hands. 

“What happened?” Jenny could barely hide the tremble in her voice as she asked.

He opened exhausted eyes and looked at her. “Heart problem,” he whispered back. “You scared me.”

She felt guilt pull at her back, shame coloring her face. “Sorry. I’m so sorry, I didn’t know—“

“Don’t. Don’t apologize.” He struggled to sit up and Jenny moved to help him. She realized he was thin; too thin, like some of the soldiers on Messaline had been when they were on rations too long. Like that homeless woman who she had found dying in the dirt of a planet she had never discovered the name of.

She had never been stupid. Nor naive. His expression told her he remembered that very clearly. Her words were blunt. “You’re dying.”

He almost flinched. She saw his expression crumble for just a moment and then those familiar walls she remembered on her dad sprang up. His jaw clenched and he looked away. Slowly he nodded. “It’s only a matter of time now,” he confessed in a raspy, tight voice.

Jenny’s chest tightened and she could only stare at him for a moment. “But- you haven’t been shot, or- or injured,” she protested. “How could you be…” She found she couldn’t finish the question.

He shook his head now, helplessly. “Bodies give out, Jenny. There doesn’t always have to be an injury.”

Desperately she looked for a way to help him out of this situation. She still did not quite understand this fact of natural death. “Dad,” she said, her voice hoarse with the tightness of her throat. “We’ll find Dad, and he’ll help you. He always helps.”

The shadow of the cell they had been placed in was splayed across his face as he looked at her. They would be at the mercy of the creatures that had taken them soon, and neither of them knew what would happen then. The darkness of his eyes was not from the now, Jenny realized. 

“There’s something I need to tell you, Jenny,” he said softly. He sounded old. Tired. “About why I’m not traveling with the Doctor. Why he won’t help me.”

0000000

This regeneration was not a young man. The Doctor didn’t have the same strength that his younger bodies had; he was still stronger and stealthier and had more stamina than a human would but with age came a loss of the advantages of youth. As he stared down in bemusement at the still body of the strange woman lying on the observation table in the Tardis’s medical bay he popped his back. His back and shoulders were going to be sore carrying her weight.

Why did she have a perception filter on her? He had looked over the device after seeing to her concussion. (Quite a nasty head injury if he did say so himself; she was lucky she hadn’t had a hemorrhage.) The device was crude and hastily built, missing the unique finesse of what a Time Lord would build, but he recognized alien technology when he saw it. 

The question was who it had been.

‘Alec protected me.’ That was what she had said before she’d gone and been so impossibly rude as to pass out on him. She had been so taken aback by the realization herself before collapsing that he knew she hadn’t been aware that she had been “protected” in the first place.

So who was Alec?

He sat with crossed legs in one of the seats of the medical bay with his guitar, strumming its thin strings as he pondered. At his silent question he felt the Tardis in the back of his head where her presence always was, soothing his agitation. He knew without conscious thought that his Old Girl already knew exactly who this mysterious woman and her companion she called Alec were. 

He sighed, looking up at the ceiling far above his head. “Couldn’t give me a clue this time, could you, Old Girl?” he questioned her gently. 

The Tardis purred, golden and apologetic, and he knew she wouldn’t. 

“Timelines,” he muttered, and plucked a particularly sharp note. It had been a pleasant surprise when he had discovered that this body had a proclivity and ability to play a guitar. His fingers played its strings with ease and he could sometimes spend hours in the console room simply adlibbing music. 

It was something to pass the time.

His lips pulled at a smile at the unintentional pun. He could feel the timelines pulling and stretching the longer that he sat here looking at this woman lying on the table. There was something pulsing in his head telling him that this was the beginning of something that would change the course of history.

0000000

When Ellie woke it was to feeling perfectly fine. There was no dizziness, no strain behind her eyes. Her senses weren’t blurring with pain, and that was what confused her most. She remembered the alleyway clearly enough but she couldn’t quite grasp when she had collapsed.

She found herself looking up at a ceiling glowing softly golden, a soft whirring humming through the air. The atmosphere was peaceful. Calm. She had never felt something quite like it and she looked around confused at her surroundings and wondering where she was.

The older man she had talked with on the street was seated quietly a few feet away from her with a guitar in his lap. As she watched his long deft fingers played out a soft tune she didn’t recognize but nonetheless realized meant something to him.

“What do you call it?” The words left her mouth before she could stop them.

He looked up at her with those sharp ice blue eyes. He still was a severe-looking man, that he couldn’t seem to help, but his mouth was curled in a way that softened the sharp angles of his face. 

“The song you’re playing,” she clarified for his benefit even though she suspected he knew very well what she was referring to, “what do you call it?”

He was quiet for another moment. “Clara,” he answered decisively, and nodded as if only then confirming its name. “Yes. That’s what I’ve called it.”

“Who was Clara?” There was something sad in his face, a wondering at the name that showed a loss.

He shook his head. “I don’t remember.”

It was an odd answer. Something that Alec would probably tell her. Her eyes widened. 

“Hardy!” she yelped, and struggled into a sitting position. She had a brief moment of vertigo but it wasn’t as bad as it had been before. “Hardy, I’ve got to find him, he and Jenny were taken by something—“

The man had stood from his chair with surprising grace and had approached the side of the bed but just before he reached out a hand he stopped. “You shouldn’t try to move yet,” he told her uncomfortably instead. ‘Your head is still healing.”

“My head-?” Her hand reached with its own accord and touched her temple gingerly and she winced when she felt the cut still there and the slight swelling surrounding it. “How did it heal so much?” she demanded, a sudden fear taking hold. “How long have I been out?”

“Only an hour,” he informed her.

The impossibility of the information was going to have to be addressed at a later date. Panic was still clawing at her stomach. “Please, I’ve got to go, I’ve got to help them—“

“It seems,” he interrupted her softly, and his Scottish accent was grating, “that your companions left you behind. Clearly they wanted you there if they put that perception filter in your pocket.”

She found she suddenly hated this man. “Hardy promised me he would get me home. He wouldn’t leave me like that.”

“Maybe he lied. People have been known to do that, you know.”

“You’re damn well determined to find the worst in every situation, aren’t you?” Ellie snapped, her low patience finally gone. “Who the hell are you, anyway?”

He straightened, straightening his jacket. “I’m the Doctor.”

The Doctor. Ellie froze in her attempt to swing her legs over the side of the bed, eyes flying wide as his words registered. Her conversation on the morning before she and Alec had begun their journey to Cardiff was still pin sharp in her memory.

“The Doctor as in the Time Lord ‘Doctor’?” she demanded hoarsely. “The Doctor who had fought the Sycorax on Christmas and travels in a Tardis?”

He clearly had not been expecting her questions, nor her knowledge of who he was. She was one of the few people still alive who had ever been able to visually shock the Doctor. He recovered quickly, however, and a sharp edge grew in his expression. “How do you know so much? Are you UNIT?”

“No, I- I’m just a police officer. From Dorset. Hardy told me about you-“

“And who is this ‘Hardy’?” he demanded. “Is he the same ‘Alec’ that you’re referring to? How does he know so much about me? No human should even be able to remember the Sycorax on that Christmas. They shouldn’t be able to remember me at all.”

Suddenly Ellie was feeling vicious; she wanted to lash out. Here was the man who was responsible, it seemed, for everything coming and going at whim. She wanted his hastily-recovered calm to crack again in shock when she told him who Alec Hardy was.

“He said he’s your Metacrisis.”

The Doctor’s face did crack in shock again as he stared at her, utterly taken aback by her sentence. He stared at her. “You’ve seen—“

‘I’ve known him for a few months.” She finally managed to find her feet and started for the door. “And right now he and Jenny are at the mercy of whatever creatures took them, and I have got to go and help them.” She turned back to look at him for a moment. “And you’re welcome to come and help me.”

“My Metacrisis,” he repeated softly. He almost seemed to be unaware of her presence anymore, absorbed entirely with the information she had just given him. His expression was dark, the sharpness of his gaze gaining an almost frightening edge. Then his eyes fell upon her again and she almost wanted to recoil. “He didn’t have a young woman with him? Blonde? Speaks with a cockney accent?”

“No.” That Ellie knew for a fact, and she was surprised that his expression darkened even further at her reply. “Should he have?”

“My Metacrisis is a child,” the Doctor nearly spat, moving to the door; he seemed taller in his anger. “He needed to be looked after.”

“Why?” she demanded. Her fingers were clutching the wall with a white-knuckled grip. “Why did you exile Hardy to Earth? What did he do that was so awful? Why do you hate him so much?”

His mouth twisted into a bitter, surprisingly triumphant smile. “He didn’t tell you, then,” he said. “Too afraid to admit what he did and lose you, I’m sure.”

She was feeling a surreal sense of déjà vu wrapping around her. She had the sense without truly understanding what it was that the information she would ask for would destroy an entirely different aspect of her life and her opinions. It felt, she realized, exactly like when Alec had told her Joe had killed Danny.

All she had to do was not ask.

But she couldn’t not know the secret of her former boss; the secret that seemed to haunt so many aspects of his life. Her voice was no more than a breath as she asked. “Why?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is turning out vastly different here on AO3 than it has on ff.net. Oh well.  
> Before anyone asks me why I have the Twelfth Doctor here instead of Ten, the answer is... I really don't know. I started writing this story about three years ago now, right after Peter Capaldi was cast as the Doctor. I liked the idea of making the Twelfth Doctor as my own interpretation and so I started to write him as my own version without seeing any of Peter's performance. Of course three years on and I've now seen all of Peter's episodes and I've written his Doctor after all. I never changed him to Ten because I liked the fact that you have him as a different man instead of Ellie seeing "the original" Alec Hardy. And I just love the Twelfth Doctor.


	10. Chapter 10

“Right, then,” the Doctor said smartly, leading their way down the hallway from the medical bay. The lights pulsing softly in the walls seemed bright and somehow inquisitive as they went along. Ellie followed him into the wide expanse of the console room, looking with gaping mouth at her surroundings; despite her shock and horror she couldn’t help but be in awe of this alien ship that pulsed with life. “Time to find your missing ‘friend’.” There was enough distaste in the Time Lord’s tone to show just what he felt about said ‘friend’. He stepped up to the console itself and with deft fingers swept the swiveling screens closer to read the information they were giving him.

His pausing in his movements caught her attention. She looked different than she had in the medical bay, he supposed. There was no longer an angry set to her mouth, no defiance in her eyes. She seemed smaller, hugging herself slightly in a vaguely defensive pose, and there was a wide horrified innocence in her gaze that lent her face a certain softness as she caught his eye.

“Unless,” he continued slowly, “you want me to take you home myself.”

She stiffened in surprise. Her eyes were flat. “You can do that?”

“Time machine,” he reminded her. “I can take you anywhere in the time of this universe.”

She was tempted. He could see that. He had broken her trust in his Metacrisis, and he could tell that she wanted nothing to do with the creature that had killed so much. As he should have broken that trust: better this woman find out about the destruction of the Daleks before she let his Metacrisis into her life.

She backed off. “I can’t,” she said softly. “I can’t, I’m sorry, Doctor, but it’s not… I wasn’t captured because Hardy made sure I couldn’t be. He was protecting me. And he and Jenny have been caught and I need to help them—“

“Jenny?” The question slipped out sharper than he had intended. He wondered what Jenny was doing without Vastra and why she was in Cardiff to begin with—but of course the Silurian and human girl were enigmatic enough to match his own levels. 

Ellie nodded. “Yeah. Your daughter, Jenny.”

0000000

Jack found the Tardis in true Jack Harkness fashion about ten minutes later—racing along the road and into the alley where he saw the ancient blue police box sat in the wet dusk and his coattails streaming out behind him. Its light through the door seemed dim but there was no real way of telling if there was anyone inside or not, not until he actually made it inside.

Knocking on the door was so incredibly tame and anticlimactic after what he had just seen with the torn up street and his friends nowhere to be found. He remembered seeing Alec there in the bar that (for him) had been over a century ago now but he knew that the experienced copper would have made sure to stay in one place until help would come. So the only option in his mind was that they had to have been detained by something.

And then he had caught a signal on his vortex manipulator that he recognized as the Tardis, a signal he had not seen for nearly six years. Excitement had been his first surge of emotion, tempered quickly however by the knowledge of what had happened in those six years, but still he approached the familiar blue box without hesitation.

The door clicked open just as he was about to knock on it. Thinking that the Doctor was about to step out he jumped back, trying to catch his breath, but when no one appeared he frowned and stepped up again, gently pushing the door open again.

The console room was empty. Taken aback by its appearance he gaped for a moment, taking in the wide dark expanse of gleaming silver circles and arching staircases. Clearly there had been changes since the last time he had seen the Doctor last; he wondered if the Time Lord was going to have the same face.

“Doctor?”

His voice echoed strangely in the yawning space, falling flat in the silence as it was swallowed by the walls. He heard the familiar whir of the Tardis as it registered his presence and he realized it had been the time machine that had let him in. A far cry from when she had travelled to the ends of time to try and shake him off.

Just as he was ready to call out again he heard the rush of footsteps to his left and suddenly the side door was sliding open and a grey-headed man was hurrying into view—with Ellie on his heels. Despite his pleasure seeing the Doctor again his attention was first brought to the woman who had been thrust so coldly into this world she was not a part of and realized immediately that this world had broken her just a little more.

He approached her and reached up to grab hold of her arms. There was a taped cut along her temple, the bruising brought down by advanced healing clearly wrought by the Tardis’s hospital wing. “Are you okay? Where’s Alec?”

She gazed up at him with dark, tired eyes and simply looked up at him blankly before her mouth abruptly twisted. “Did you know?”

For a moment his heart wanted to stop when he realized what it was exactly she was asking but he didn’t immediately respond positively, wanting no part in this secret that his old friend refused to speak about. “About what?”

Anger spasmed in her expression and she twitched as if she wanted to shove him off her. “You know very bloody well what, Jack! Hardy committed genocide and you’ve known all along!”

The words hurt more than he had first thought they would and he winced inside for the friend who was not here to speak for himself. He swung towards the man he knew was the Doctor who was silently watching their exchange through a face he realized he knew all too horribly well. In his state he didn’t think. “You!” he snarled, and pulled his pistol from its holster on instinct

“Jack!” Ellie’s hands, stronger than he would have suspected, grabbed hold of his wrist, stopping him before he could finish drawing it. “Jack, stop it! What’s wrong with you?”

“Put the gun down, Jack,” the Doctor told him tiredly like a weary parent. The accent was different from the politician he recalled being one of those responsible for the Children of Earth. It mollified him slightly to realize that but it didn’t lessen his anger. He rounded on the ancient Time Lord. 

“Why the hell did you tell her, Doctor? Don’t you think it should have been Alec’s right to?”

“He wouldn’t have,” the Doctor replied shortly, his clear eyes darkening as his brows drew into a scowl. “He’s not like that.”

“You could say he’s got that from you—“

“Yes, yes, I’m sure you have something that is very important to you to say, but right now I have to find my daughter.” The Doctor quickly brushed him off and walked along the edge of the console, focusing his attention on the buttons and levers spread out before him. 

Jack gaped at him for a moment, taken aback by his words before they registered. “When did you have a daughter?”

The Time Lord’s actions faltered for a second but he didn’t look up. “It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that she’s been taken and I’m going to find her.” His voice was cold. A lever pulled down with a click and suddenly the Tardis jerked and shook as it faded in and out as it left the streets of Cardiff. Jack knew enough of the ways of traveling in the Doctor’s blue box that he could brace himself but he reached out to steady Ellie as she stumbled back.

“She was in Cardiff,” she explained hurriedly, the words slipping out without thought, and she was still looking at Jack in growing mistrust. “We met her there, she’s been trying to find the Doctor.”

He opened his mouth to call her out on the name she was so very carefully not mentioning but before he could the world stopped shaking and the thump of the Tardis landing told them they had reached their destination. Wherever that was.

The Doctor hurried around the console again. “Now, I’ve taken us to where Jenny’s left the ship she was travelling in. We’ll be able to pick up something to track her with.”

“It can’t be that easy,” Ellie protested, pulling away from Jack to step up to the Doctor’s side. “That only happens in the movies.”

“Yes, but the idea is still there,” the Time Lord replied, heading towards the door, “and that’s the key.”

0000000

The ship was smaller than Ellie had been expecting, no more than the size of the Doctor’s mysterious blue box, and had clearly been grounded for quite some time. Jenny had luckily landed in land very similar to where Ellie and Alec had been sent to by the Angel, a wide expanse of grass far from the city that she could just see out in the distance. It was lying with its nose crumpled in and the land turned up around it, its sides streaked with dirt and ash from entry into the Earth’s atmosphere. 

Jack and the Doctor immediately started to look into its mechanics, trying to find something that would help them find Jenny. For a moment Ellie wondered if they would ever be able to see either the Time Lord’s daughter or Alec again and hastily shied away from the possibility. No, they were still alive. Both of them, they had to be.

“So what are we looking for, Doctor?” Jack was asking aloud when she shook herself back to the present. His voice was muffled from where he was leaning into the cockpit, but she could see his hands searching for something that could help them.

“Anything with her trace on it. Not just skin particles, we’re going to need something with blood or her DNA trace on it substantial enough that the Tardis will be able to use it.”

Ellie grabbed hold of a rail and pulled herself up on the opposite side of the Time Lord’s grey head. “Doctor, she wasn’t injured. She was fine when she met up with us.”

His mouth was tight. “Then we’ll find something else. There’s always something else.”

“There’s nothing in here,” Jack countered, straightening up and turning to them. “Ellie’s right, Jenny hasn’t been injured. It looks like she left as soon as she crashed.”

The Doctor glared up at him. “If you’re going to simply say we can’t find her,” he growled, Scottish accent thick, “then I’ll leave you here.”

“Yeah, just like you did before,” Jack retorted, his anger surging. “Just like you did Alec, and Rose—“

“Don’t you dare patronize me, Captain!” the Doctor exclaimed, stiffening and pointing an accusing finger at the seething man. “And don’t you dare bring up subjects that are none of your concern—“

“None of my concern?” Jack exploded, stepping closer. “You haven’t been here, Doctor, you have no idea—“

“Stop it!” Ellie shouted, frightened by their words and the darkness of their eyes. She slipped between them and let her temper run, letting loose all of her anger and fright and confusion. “Stop it, both of you! My god, you’re like children. How is this supposed to help us find Jenny? Or Hardy? The more time you stand here and argue the less time we’ll have to find either of them.” She glared first at Jack before turning to the Time Lord, who looked entirely taken aback by her intervention. “Doctor, I know you need to find Jenny, but we can’t find her this way. But there is a way we can track down Hardy.”

The Time Lord’s head cocked slightly as he paused, thinking of the possibilities of that. “How?” he finally inquired.

“The perception filter he built.” She crossed her arms when he looked unconvinced and waited in silence until she knew she wasn’t going to smack him. “C’mon, you know it can work. And he built it himself, he’s probably put his DNA all over it. You can at least try it.”

The doctor looked fairly unconvinced. “But it may not lead us to Jenny,” he countered bluntly. “Or he may already be dead.”

Well, at least he was honest. Ellie tried to hide the flinch his words brought about and steadied her gaze. “It’s a chance, yes. But I don’t think he’d leave her.”

“No?” A challenge, that question. Almost contemptuous.

“He didn’t with me.” It was stated as a fact, indisputable. Behind her Jack grinned, pleased to hear that she was still fair enough to admit that. “Please, Doctor. Just try.”

In the face of both humans’ gazes the Doctor’s stubbornness crumbled slightly. He scowled but finally nodded. “Alright,” was all he said, and then he was moving away and back to the waiting Tardis.

“Ellie.” Before she could follow, Jack reached out and grabbed hold of her elbow to turn her towards him. Her expression was guarded and still angry but he was heartened to see that she didn’t seem to be as upset as she had been. Silently he cursed the damage the Doctor had certainly (deliberately) caused between Alec and Ellie. “Thank you.”

“I just want the Doctor to have his daughter back,” she retorted bluntly.

“I know. But the Doctor has a son, too, even if neither of them will admit it.” There. He saw the walls spring up behind her eyes. “You do realize the trust Alec’s placed in you, right, Ellie?”

She hadn’t. Her face flickered with confusion and doubt. “And what is it exactly that he’s trusted with me, Jack? Because it seems to me he’s hidden a hell of a lot.”

“He has,” he admitted, “and I’ll be honest and let you know that there’s still a hell of a lot more he hasn’t told you—hasn’t told any of us, really. But if anyone outside of UNIT or Torchwood were to find out he’s even part human he would have to run or the government would claim him as their property. If he runs he would be an outcast for the rest of his life. If he was caught by the government, by any government…” He shrugged helplessly. “Well, you know what humans do to understand things.”

Ellie felt like she was going to be sick as the full implications of what Jack was saying to her sank in. “They’d kill him just so they could…” Dissect him. She couldn’t speak it aloud, the thought was too gruesome.

Jack knew exactly what she was thinking and knew if he could only phrase what he needed to he would cause a crack in her disgust and horror of Alec’s past. “That’s why I started Torchwood up: it’s our job to make sure the majority of humanity doesn’t find out about extra-terrestrial life, both for their sake and for the sometimes for the alien’s.”

“Why the alien’s sake?” Ellie’s mind was still burning with the memories of those weeping angels sending innocent people to the past, and of the chimera from so many days ago whose only instinct had been to lash out and kill those around it. And of her boss himself, guilty of genocide. “Seems to me they’re the dangerous ones.”

“It does seem that way, doesn’t it? I bet you were pretty shocked when you found out how Alec was created.”

Ellie flushed. “I- wasn’t expecting that,” she admitted in a small voice. “To know that he’s… not exactly human is…”

“Frightening?” Jack asked innocently.

Abruptly she remembered the (very) brief flash of horror she’d felt when Alec had told her his past. It had come and gone faster than she could blink but Jack’s inquiry threw it back in her face all too clearly. For one moment she had been ready to run from Alec Hardy, even while stuck in the past, something in her gut screaming at the utter wrongness of his existence. Aliens were not meant to exist, and humans were not meant to be alien. For one moment she had been terrified and repulsed by him.

Oh. She swallowed down a sudden wave of shame as she realized the point the captain was trying to make.

0000000

Quietly Alec picked at the lock of the cell he and Jenny were still stuck in. He had none of his supplies with him that he usually had while working on locks and other security systems but, as much as he hated to admit it, he was still part Time Lord and part human: he was cleverer by far than most could ever hope to be. And he had picked a lot of locks in his time.

“Couldn’t leave me a sonic in the suit pocket, nooo,” he muttered between clenched teeth, concentrating utterly on his task that he didn’t realize he had slipped into his old speaking habits. “Could’ve had a spare handy but he didn’t think that far ahead. Do you realize how many situations could have been solved so much more easily if he had had a damn spare sonic on him, Jenny?”

She grinned softly, crouched beside him and watching his deft fingers as he worked. “You’ll get us out,” she told him in absolute confidence. “I know you will.”

“Well, at least one of us is optimistic,” he retorted softly, finding himself grinning anyway. “Haven’t had to unlock anything in a while, I think I’m out of practice.”

“But Dad always had his sonic, didn’t he? So where did you learn how to unlock something manually?”

“Donna. Mum,” he corrected automatically, referring to her as he did only in his thoughts. “She really was brilliant; I don’t think she ever told him that she knew how to pick a lock, though.”

Jenny’s face sobered; when Alec had admitted to her everything that had happened, from the stealing of the thirteen planets to being left on Bad Wolf Bay, he had mentioned that Donna had been made to forget the Doctor’s existence to save her life. Donna had not been any part of Jenny’s creation but the fiery redhead had been the one to first accept her and provide the blonde with her name, and she could begin to understand the pain that fact would bring to her brother.

“Have you tried to find a way to bring her back?” she asked softly.

He glanced at her, eyes dark. “Yes."

And the lock clicked open. For a moment the two of them sat together in surprise but then Alec grabbed the door and swung it out an inch and he grinned over at her. Jenny’s own smile grew with the excitement of running again and leapt to her feet. “C’mon. We’re out, we can meet up with Ellie.”

She helped him to his feet, trying to ignore the recent trauma he’d had with his heart, and grabbed hold of his hand, relieved to feel its warmth.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a very long time since I've updated this story. I apologize about that. Hopefully this chapter is worth the wait.

“Chapter 11”

The roar of fury that seemed to shake the very air told them very quickly that their escape had been discovered. Being careful to keep to the very edges of the corridors and the shadows, Alec and Jenny made their careful way forward. They had found themselves to be in a labyrinth, an almost impassable maze of dizzying proportions. The dim lighting kept their trek partially concealed but neither of them knew if there were cameras. They didn’t even know what their captors truly looked like, except that they were hulking masses of muscle and uncanny speed for their size. 

“But why come after me?” Jenny whispered as they waited at a junction between the passages. She found herself to still be short of breath being shot by the alien, its poison having not yet left her system. If she felt badly she knew Alec must too but he doggedly avoiding showing it. Only the tightness of his mouth betrayed the pain he was feeling. “Why not just look for the ship I was fling and study that? I’m only human to them, after all.”

But Alec merely shook his head. “We don’t know that, Jenny,” he whispered back. “Besides, I really doubt you register as ‘human’ to them. You’re the closest thing to a Time Lord besides the Doctor that’s in the galaxy right now. They may have picked up on your two hearts.”

“A lot of species in the galaxy have two hearts. They don’t know if I’d be a Time Lord or not.”

“Precisely,” Alec replied darkly. “Which is the way we want to keep it. C’mon. We need to keep moving.”

~/~/~/~/~

The world juked and whirled around Ellie as she desperately tried to keep her feet. The Doctor’s ship was moving again as they headed on their way leaving Cardiff behind them. Jack stood beside her, holding onto the console with both hands and stealing glances in her direction. The Doctor himself moved around from side to side of the console, holding down levers and pushing buttons and watching the screens which flashed with information.

They had locked on to a trail. 

Ellie had been right; Alec had left plenty of DNA on the perception filter when he built it, and it was enough to allow the Doctor to latch onto a path that the Tardis could follow. Immediately he had sprung into action and set the course that would hopefully lead them to their missing companions.

Ellie studiously ignored the captain’s glances. She knew he was disappointed in her for her reaction to learning about Alec’s act of genocide, but his words from only a few minutes before were sticking to her. As much trust as she had promised she’d had in her boss, Ellie did realize now the true trust he had placed in her too. It did nothing to lessen her horror of his actions but it gave her something else to consider, and that was exactly what Jack had hoped would happen. She hadn’t been there on the Crucible, he thought to himself. She had never met a Dalek.

How would Alec react when he found out that the Doctor had so callously told her about it? He could very rarely ever handle speaking about the Daleks calmly, and as time went on Jack had noticed Alec withdrawing from all things alien and outer space altogether, as if the knowledge of their very existence was too painful to bear. 

Jack had never found out what it was the Doctor had told Alec the day he’d left him exiled on Earth. Rose had been there at first of course to curb Alec’s desire to explore the stars but there had still been something there in his eyes after he’d walked out of the Tardis for the last time that told the captain that the Doctor had threatened him.

And knowing the Doctor, it wasn’t a threat to be taken lightly. 

He wasn’t entirely sure what to make of this latest regeneration, either. This was a face he knew as the politician John Frobisher, who had had such a devastating part to play during the Children of Earth crisis. Same voice, too, although the Scottish accent was different. 

He wondered what sort of man this Doctor was. Certainly his face was severe enough. In a way this Doctor reminded him of the one who Jack had met first during the Blitz so many hundred years ago, what with his focused determination and grim mouth; he barely acknowledged Jack’s and Ellie’s presence now in his need to find his daughter.

It made Jack angry. Here was the man who had begun this entire thing so many years ago and he was barely even part of events now, and yet he acted as if only Jenny was the important one.

As if Ellie and Alec didn’t matter.

“What happened to you, Doctor?” he finally demanded in the loud silence. The Tardis hummed as it settled, a warm purr of reassurance for Ellie, who was clutching the handrail with white-knuckled fists. “It’s been almost six years for us but for you… this is a new body. What number are you on?”

“Twelfth,” the Doctor replied shortly.

A whole two regenerations. “How long?”

The Doctor shrugged. “Four billion years, give or take a few centuries. Technically, anyway. It’s a very long story.” His gaze was fierce as he met Jack’s eyes. “What of Rose, Captain?” he demanded. “I come back to find my daughter is somehow still alive, and worse my Metacrisis is wandering loose only God knows where—”

Ellie was watching them worriedly. Jack retorted icily, “He has a name, you know, and it’s Alec.”

“A very common human name,” the Doctor snorted, unimpressed. Derision seemed to drip from his voice but Jack refused to stand down.

“He was made that way, Doc, and you know it. He can’t help where he came from.”

It was a barb and they both knew it. The Doctor’s expression cooled slightly but he didn’t forget his original question. “Where is Rose?”

Jack shook his head. “I can’t tell you, Doc. I’m not just saying that, either, if you want to know you’ll have to ask Alec. I don’t know where she is.” 

An insistent ringing at that moment distracted them all from further discussion; a light was flashing on the Tardis’ screen. The Doctor’s expression cleared as he looked at it. “She’s locked on. We’re close.” His eyebrows quirked as he read on, genuine confusion making him frown. “Well, that reading doesn’t seem right…” he muttered to himself, drawing closer to the screen. “Some kind of hybrid genes?"

“Doctor?” Ellie said softly from the door. She was anxious to leave the confines of the Tardis and find their two missing companions. She wanted to go home and see her boys, and the sooner they found Alec and Jenny the sooner she could do that.

Her voice shook him out of whatever thoughts he was drifting along. “Come on then.” He paused as he reached Ellie’s side, his blue eyes still severe but softening with concern. “The wound on your temple will still give you trouble. I don’t know if you should come along, Ellie.”

She flared. “I’m going, Doctor. I won’t break just because I’ve got a cut on my head. I’m helping you find your daughter— and I’m going to find Hardy, too, because he’s supposed to be your responsibility.”

“He isn’t,” the Doctor replied coolly. “He belongs to humanity now.”

“Why is that such a bad thing, then, eh?” she demanded, glaring up at him. “What’s wrong with being human?”

She had backed him into a corner. For the first time in a long time the Doctor found himself speechless and unable to find an answer that wouldn’t label him badly. It’s wasn’t humanity he had a problem with after all; it was with his Metacrisis. But she wouldn’t understand that. She hadn’t been there that day when genocide was committed. But this curly-haired woman was glaring up at him, fiery and independent and waiting for an answer, and he was suddenly painfully reminded of Donna.

He brushed past her without an answer, wanting only to get away. He needed to find Jenny.

~/~/~/~/~

An inhuman, deafening bellow rocked the corridor that the Tardis had landed in just as the three of them left its doors, making both Jack and Ellie stagger slightly. The air was cold and damp and smelled of earth; they were underground somewhere in a vast labyrinth, but the Doctor continued on his way with barely any hesitation at all. 

“Sounds angry,” Jack commented softly.

“Why would it be angry?” Ellie whispered from his side.

“I would think it’s because nobody likes their prisoners escaping.” The captain grinned wryly at his own remark. “And if I know Alec, he’s already out skulking around somewhere with Jenny.”

Ellie frowned. “Is it really that easy to escape from a cell?” She had once had a deputy accidentally lock themselves in one of Broadchurch’s cells and they hadn’t been able to so much as jar the lock.

“For him it is.” Jack’s grin widened as he thought back. “Back when Torchwood was still at the Hub there was a time when he deliberately locked himself in one of the holding cells and found out all the different ways he could possibly open it from the inside, and that was only because he was bored.”

Ellie rolled her eyes. “Why doesn’t that surprise me now?” she muttered. She had watched him build a workable machine from spare parts traded in the early 1900s— that was why. Another roar shook the air, effectively chasing her thoughts away, and the captain grabbed hold of her hand and led her along. Their footsteps seemed incredibly loud in the hallways but the Doctor didn’t seem overly concerned so they followed him at a quickening pace through corridor after countless corridor until she was thoroughly confused and unable to remember where they had first started from. They walked for so long she began to think that they would never find Alec and Jenny.

And then the Doctor turned a corner and very nearly walked into the face of one of the creatures.

It was a massive hulk, that much Ellie could see, but her eyes seemed to have trouble focusing on it. She could see flashes of hulking stone-like skin built like armor around it but it seemed hazy at the same time, like it was out of focus. 

It’s mouth, gaping open, was lined with millions of needle-thin teeth.

“Ah,” the Doctor said. “Hello. I was just passing through, but now I’ll be on my way.” Turning smartly on his heel he walked around the corner of the corridor. “I think it’s about time we started to run.”

The creature was quick but it’s bulk seemed to slow it down. Soon they left it behind but not before it had tried to impale them with several quills shot from its long, leathery tail. The Doctor refused to let them slow down, however, sure that there were more of the creatures stalking them. Ellie could hear crashing steps from behind them and knew he was right.

And then suddenly, careening around the corner at full terrified sprint came Alec and Jenny, both of them slipping on the floor as they outrun the creatures pursuing them. Ellie couldn’t help her cry of surprise and relief seeing them; it was clear their escape had been a close one. Jenny’s pant leg was torn and covered in blood and there was a cut down her face; Alec’s left hand was bloodied from a cut on his palm and his shirt sleeve was ripped. Even as they watched in stunned amazement the corridor shook with yet another loud keening roar that nearly split their skulls, and Jenny stumbled with a short cry of pain. Alec grabbed hold of her hand and kept her going, balancing her until she was steady.

Jenny noticed them first. “Ellie!” she cried, picking her familiar face out immediately. 

“What happened to you both?” Ellie demanded as soon as they reached her. “My god, the blood on your clothes—!”

“We had an altercation,” Alec said dryly. He was pale and shaky but he didn’t look quite ready to collapse yet, which was heartening, but from the way Jenny was refusing to let go of his hand she realized looks could be deceiving. “Took you bloody long enough to get here.”

“You’re still a knob,” Ellie snapped. 

“I get it honestly,” he retorted, but his attention was already turning on the Doctor. Jenny noticed him at the same moment. 

“Dad?”

The Doctor stepped around Ellie, his gaze fixed upon his daughter’s curious face. “Jenny.”

The roar of the aliens prevented her from moving forward and embracing him. Instead they ran again, all of them, deeper and deeper into the maze, trying to keep away from the sounds of the creatures’ feet on the floor. It almost seemed to Ellie that their course started to even out, or at least end up going in the same direction continuously. 

“They’re herding us,” Alec said aloud as if he had been reading her thoughts. “They’re leading us where they want us to go.” They had stopped for a moment in the doorway of a darkened room to try and get their bearings.

The Doctor barely glanced at him but he didn’t disagree. “They’ll try to corner us all and pick us off one by one.”

Jenny leaped to her feet even before the words completely left his mouth and with a suddenness that was astonishing she shoved Jack away from the door and swung it closed— just as one of the creatures leaped for her. The door shuddered from its impact but held, but looking around Ellie realized with a jolt of horror that they were trapped in a room with no exit except for the door that was now watched by the aliens that would surely kill them all when they were caught.

Jack shared her thoughts. His gaze was unnaturally grave as he looked at his old friend. “Well, I think they’ve herded us exactly where they want us. Any ideas now?”

But the Doctor was silent, and Ellie felt her stomach drop when she realized he didn’t have an answer.


	12. Chapter 12

“Chapter 12”

The door shuddered and rattled and they could all hear the creature on the opposite side shrieking in anger and impatience. Jenny was leaning with her entire weight on it with Jack beside her trying to stabilize it against the blows. 

“They’re going to break through, Dad,” she said worriedly, looking over her shoulder to the Doctor, who was exploring the room along its width. It was a smaller room, covered in an inch of dust and musty with age, although Ellie could see lights blinking in the machinery still kept within its walls. Alec had taken her by the shoulders and herded her into the farthest corner away from the door; he was the only one who wasn’t standing. Instead, in the low flickering light she saw he was seated cross-legged on the floor in front of one of the machines. Its access door was hanging wide open and she could see a mess of wires and tubes jumbled together, and he was pulling them out one by one and playing with them, head bent down low as he wound them together in a colorful chord about an inch thick. 

“We have about a minute,” the Doctor agreed. 

“A minute’s all we need, Doc,” Jack pointed out. The door shook horribly, jarring both him and Jenny back, and they immediately fell upon it again. The creature sounded angry now, and there seemed to be more than one. Ellie left her corner and slid in beside Jenny. “Any ideas?”

The Doctor answered by turning smoothly on his heel and pulling out a cylindrical device from his inner pocket, a sleek metal glowing blue, which he used to scan the door. A high buzzing emitted from it, startling Ellie.

“What the hell is that?” she demanded, eyeing it warily.

“Sonic screwdriver,” Alec answered from his spot on the floor. He hadn’t even bothered to look up from the wires in his hands, apparently oblivious to the banging and shrieks from the other side of the door. 

“And what is that?”

“A screwdriver that’s sonic,” the Doctor retorted irritably. 

“It’s different from your old one,” Jenny commented helpfully. “It’s not as sleek, and the light’s a different blue.”

“Don’t like it,” Alec agreed. 

“You never do,” the Doctor snapped. “Always liked things blue and sleek, you did— didn’t even care for a future console!”

“That’s because Pinstripes didn’t have to compensate for anything.”

“What’s that mean?” Jenny asked curiously, looking over at him. 

Ellie’s mouth dropped open; she was unable to believe how utterly blasé they were all acting, as if they did this sort of thing all the time— and were they really going in that direction?

“You’ll find out,” Alec assured her, but his attention turned to the Doctor, who was still poring over his options. “Your brilliant plans are taking a bit more time to figure out, aren’t they?”

The Doctor’s glare was acid as he turned to him. “If you have any suggestions, I’m sure I’d be glad to hear them,” he said sarcastically, “but since we have thirty-three seconds left I really doubt you could—”

Ellie watched Alec lift up the chord of wires into view, one scathing eyebrow arched in response. 

The Doctor’s mouth clicked shut.

“Care to help me out here, Doctor?” 

Alec’s caustic question uprooted the Doctor’s feet from the floor. His blue eyes flashed. “It won’t kill them all, will it?”

The former’s expression darkened so quickly it was frightening. That unspoken word hovered between them; beside her, Ellie heard Jenny breath sharply through her nose. Even Jack was looking shocked by the Doctor’s harsh question. 

The door buckled, effectively stopping any potential responses; with a speed Ellie had never seen before the Doctor grabbed hold of the chord of wires and grabbing hold of Jenny’s hand dragged her away from it. Jack, realizing the plan, snatched Ellie’s hand and pulls her away as well. The Doctor laid the wires up against the door and then ran back to the machine where Alec was just climbing to his feet. “Ten seconds,” he called out. “Jack, get them back into the far corner in case that door goes.”

The next ten seconds were the longest of Ellie’s life. The lights flickered again, drowning them in darkness for just a moment, and the air was alive with the smell and crackle of electricity and the howls of the creatures outside. The Doctor stood in front of the machine, using the sonic screwdriver to pump up power into the wires. Jack, grim-faced, forced Ellie and Jenny behind him, placing himself between them and the door. Alec stayed where he was standing. Closing her eyes before the lights came back on Ellie thought of Tom and Fred suddenly, briefly wondering what they would do if she never came back—

And the world exploded in a burst of light and the hiss of live wires. The creatures shrieked in surprise and pain and she heard the crumpling of metal and the retreat of stumbling footsteps. 

And then it was silent.

Opening her eyes she looked around Jack’s shoulder to find the Doctor and Alec standing where they were a few seconds before, looking down at the remains of the door. One of the creatures lay unconscious upon the twisted sheet of metal, its skin smoking from the electricity that had just shocked it. Behind it several of its fellows lay in heaps as well.

“It worked,” Ellie breathed.

Jenny slipped out from beneath the captain’s arm, a wide smile spreading across her face as she raced forward. “You did it!” she exclaimed, pulling Alec in for an embrace. “You did it, you both did it!” Letting go of him she spun towards her father and hugged him too. “That was brilliant!” 

“Glad one of us thinks so,” Alec muttered, and looked back at Jack. “Not bad for improvising in thirty seconds.”

“Not your best,” the captain replied with a half-grin, “but not bad.” Turning with a sly half-grin he called to the Doctor, “Cut it a bit close this time, didn’t you?”

“No fun otherwise, Captain,” came the short response, but even the Time Lord seemed rather giddy about the whole situation. He let go of Jenny and held her at arm’s length, looking her up and down. “You’re not a young woman anymore, I see.”

“I’m five years, three hundred and five days, and sixteen seconds old,” came the quick response. Standing at Jack’s side Ellie heard Alec snort wryly, the only one not taken aback by Jenny’s reply. Looking at said brother and sister Ellie realized that they had been created around the same time.

“But look at you, Dad— you’ve got lines on your face, and your hair’s grey. You’ve changed! How did you do that? You used to look exactly like Alec.”

“There was an accident,” the Doctor explained quietly. “Radiation from a nuclear reaction. I changed to save my own life, see; it’s a Time Lord ability.”

Jenny frowned, thinking through his explanation; and abruptly her face fell. “I’m not a Time Lord then, am I?” she asked softly. “I didn’t do that.”

One of the creatures on the floor twitched, stopping the Doctor’s answering. “We’ve got to move before they wake up. A trick like that isn’t going to fool them a second time.” Jack was already heading to the door, his hand resting on his pistol. Ellie followed after him but she could feel Alec’s eyes on her, and she waited for him to step up beside her. She felt his fingers brush her elbow but just as quickly he drew them back; looking up at him she saw the vulnerability in his expression for a split second before it was smoothed carefully away.

“The Doctor,” he said as they made their way down the corridor, “he told you.”

“I should have realized it when you said he’d exiled you here. I suspected it then, but I didn’t believe it.” She tried to keep her voice even and calm but she couldn’t help the tremor in her voice as she replied. She didn’t want to talk about this now; she was too confused over everything, and although she believed him to be in the wrong she also thought the Doctor had a degree of responsibility in this too.

She needed time to think.

Either he realized that or he simply didn’t know what to say. From the dark glance towards the Doctor she suspected it was the latter, and that there would be words exchanged sooner rather than later. They made their way through the winding halls, keeping lookouts for any other potential followers on their trail, but although they heard the distant roars of some more of the creatures they were too far away to be a threat. When they reached the Tardis standing in the shadows, Jenny raced forward as much as she was able to from the Doctor’s side and skidded to a stop in front of the bright blue door.

“This is it, yeah?” she asked with a wide smile. “Your time machine?”

“The Tardis,” he nodded. Withdrawing a key from his pocket he unlocked the door and pushed it open, one hand gesturing grandly into the wide space beyond the threshold. “Welcome home, Jenny.”

She shot through the open doors without any further prodding, eager to see what the mysterious blue box looked like within its walls and it didn’t disappoint. “It’s beautiful!” she exclaimed, rushing up the walkway. Her innocent excitement was catching as they filed in behind her. The Doctor looked around proudly as the Tardis’s lights blinked palely at them as if welcoming them back. 

“You like it then.” It was less a question than an outright remark and they all knew it. Jenny nodded. 

“I love it. I’m glad I’ve seen it now.” She turned back to the Doctor and her smile widened. “I’ve missed you, Dad.” Rushing forward once again— did she ever run out of energy?— she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. 

“I thought you were dead.”

“I was, I think. But then I woke up and I stole a shuttle to come and find you. And then I ended up running into Alec and Ellie and here I am!”

The Doctor (stiff throughout her embrace as if unsure what he could do) pulled back and smiled, and it lit up his severe blue eyes. “I have so much to show you, Jenny. Who knows? Maybe we could even make a trip to Gallifrey.”

“But- Gallifrey’s gone,” Jenny said blankly, drawing back in confusion. “You told me that. It was destroyed in the war.”

“It wasn’t.”

Alec’s quiet voice answered her before the Doctor could; they both turned to him where he stood closest to the doors of the Tardis. His attention had been on the new console but he met Jenny’s gaze squarely as he spoke. Then his attention shifted towards the Doctor himself. “Why that face?”

The question meant nothing to any of them— all of them except for the Doctor himself, whose expression smoothed meeting his Metacrisis’s eyes. He stepped away from Jenny. “I needed reminding,” he said quietly, “of my promise.” His voice was stiff, cold, a challenge embedded in the tone of statement. A jab. 

Alec sneered. “And what a face to remind you of that,” he retorted.

“You would know it,” came the equally sharp answer, and then the Doctor volleyed with his own question. “Where is Rose?”

Alec’s expression darkened in a way she hadn’t seen since Danny’s murder case. “Gallavanting around God knows where,” he snapped bitingly. “She’s not the perfect person you always thought she was.”

“So you left her?” Anger was growing in the Time Lord’s tone.

Alec’s temper flared. “Don’t you dare! You can’t accuse me of abandoning anybody after you left us both at that godforsaken beach!”

“Hardy,” Ellie muttered warningly from behind him.

By speaking aloud, however, she shifted the Doctor’s attention to herself. “So you’ve left Rose for another woman then.”

Ellie flushed but Alec beat her to a response. “She’s a colleague. She’s Ellie Miller, and she hasn’t replaced anyone.”

“No, of course not— only as your companion.”

“If that’s what you’d like to think, then yes,” Alec snapped without missing a beat, “and she makes a damn good one too.”

For a long tense moment the two of them openly glared at each other, two alpha wolves scenting challenge with Ellie watching them warily. Then the Doctor swung towards her again, appraisal high in his expression.

“You, Miller—”

“Ellie,” she interrupted fiercely, thoroughly irritated with this whole ridiculous situation. 

“Tell me again. What job do you hold, Ellie?”

“Detective Sergeant.”

The Doctor’s mouth curled with distaste. “You’re police.” He turned towards Alec once again. “Of all the things to choose you picked police?”

“Inspection. Working crime.” Alec shrugged. “Couldn’t keep my nose out of other peoples’ business, so why not? I still get to solve the problem— and destroy a few lives while I’m at it.”

“That’s enough, Hardy!” Ellie barked. She wasn’t going to stand for this, the two of them clawing at each other’s throats. “Calm down and shut up before I make you, and you!” With the glare she’d honed perfectly against journalists during Danny’s case she swung towards the Doctor with one finger pointed like a javelin at him. “You’re supposed to be some ancient alien but you’re acting like a child! Hardy was looking for a way to help Jenny find you— for your daughter— so focus on her before going after him! You’ve explained everything to me anyway, so help me if either of you start anything I’m kicking you both out of here until you cool off!”

The Doctor was staring at Ellie with a mix of shock and indignation. Alec, hidden behind her, had to hide the smile that was trying to show on his face.

Jack started to clap, startling away the silence that had so quickly descended upon them. “Well said, Ellie Miller! I knew there was a reason I liked you.” She flushed as she realized what she had just said.

“That’s us told,” Alec muttered.

The Doctor gaped silently for a long moment before turning to look at him in open bewilderment. “Why is it that we attract the difficult ones?” he complained.


End file.
